Cougs' Caicedo named P12 track athlete of the week; McDermott, Ntekpere & Stensland get GNAC awards...
After the first full week of competition outdoors, the Pac-12 Conference announced that Washington State's Maribel Caicedo (photo courtesy WSU Athletics) was named women's track athlete of the week for the week ending March 16th.
Caicedo won the women's 100m hurdles at last weekend's Arizona Spring Break Fiesta in a time of 13.09, the third-best in Division I and tops in the Pac-12 so far this season.
In the Cougars' outdoor season-opening trip to Tucson last weekend, she also ran the opening leg of the women's 4x100m relay team that captured a fourth-place finish in a time of 44.94, the eighth-best mark all-time in WSU women's track history.
The transfer from UTEP qualified for the NCAA indoor championships last year, but sat out the 2023 outdoor campaign due to injuries.
GNAC INDOOR AWARDS DOLED OUT BY CONFERENCE...
The Great Northwest Athletic Conference capped off the 2024 indoor season with its annual special awards announcement late last week.
Western Washington's Kevin McDermott and Central Washington's Emy Ntekpere were named the male athlete of the year and female freshman athlete of the year for the recently completed indoor track and field season.
McDermott became just the second man in GNAC history to win the gold medal trio in the mile, 3000 meters and 5000 meters at the GNAC Indoor Championships and was named the men’s track athlete of the meet. McDermott capped an indoor season in which he clocked personal bests in all three events with the top indoor award, after he ran the third-fastest 5000 meters in GNAC indoor history (13:50.77), the fourth-fastest mile (4:02.13) and the fourth-fastest 3000 meters (7:59.27).
McDermott earned second-team All-America in both the 3000 meters and 5000 meters, finishing in 16th place and 12th place, respectively, in the two events at the NCAA Indoor Championships. McDermott is the third Viking to claim the GNAC Indoor AOY, joining 2015 co-selection Alex Donigian and two-time winner Ryan Brown (2010-11).
CWU’s Emy Ntekpere capped a remarkable freshman indoor campaign with second-team All-America performances in both the high jump (11th place) and triple jump (13th place) at the recently completed NCAA Indoor Championships.
Ntekpere stole the show at the 2024 GNAC Indoor Championships, winning gold in the high jump and triple jump and taking silver in the long jump on her way to women’s field athlete of the meet honors. Ntekpere hit a pair of season bests at the GNAC meet, clearing 40-4.25 (12.30m) in the triple jump and 19-0 (5.79m) in the long jump. Ntekpere is the second woman from Central Washington to claim GNAC indoor FOY award, joining 2011 honoree Becca Clark.
WWU’s Ben Stensland was voted by his peers as the GNAC indoor coach of the year for both men’s and women’s track and field, after piloting the Vikings to a sweep of the GNAC indoor titles. WWU’s men broke the GNAC record for points at an indoor championship with 187.66, while the women claimed their first-ever GNAC Indoor Championships team title. Stensland is the third person in GNAC history to claim the COY award for both genders in the same season
NOTE: The sports information office of Washington State and the GNAC contributed to this report.
paulmerca.blogspot.com may receive a commission for any purchases made from links clicked. Please support this site and our sponsors by clicking on the links. You can also support the site by clicking the yellow "Buy Me A Coffee" link below.
Comments