MAC Women’s Track Athlete of the Week
Rachael Clay, Miami University,
Senior, Rossford, Ohio/Rossford HS
Clay had a strong showing at the Gladstein Invitational, hosted by Indiana University, Friday and Saturday. On Friday, she won the 400m dash invitational final in a personal-best 55.49, the second-best time in school history and third-best in the MAC this year (43rd nationally). She won the invite-only race in a field of 15, improving her previous best time by over half a second while winning the race by over half a second as well. The race included runners from the host Hoosiers, Memphis, Jacksonville State, Cincinnati, Xavier and Austin Peay. Saturday, Clay helped Miami shatter the school record in the 4x400m relay, running the third leg to help the team finish in 3:43.97, topping the previous record, which she also helped set, by over a second. The RedHawks won the 21-team race as well while the time is by far tops in the MAC and ranks 38th nationally.
MAC Women’s Field Athlete of the Week
Becky O’Brien, Buffalo
Senior, Cumberland, ME/Greely
Becky O'Brien won the shot put at the Cornell Upstate Challenge in her first competition of the season. O'Brien won the event with a throw of 52-6.75 (16.02m) defeating teammate and 2010 outdoor All-America Kristy Woods by 15.25 inches.
MAC Men’s Track Athlete of the Week
Princeton Bryson, Kent State
Senior, Toledo, Ohio/Bowsher H.S.
Bryson turned in the third-best time in Kent State history and the fastest time in the 60-meter dash thus far in the Mid-American Conference with his 6.71 time at the Akron Dual Jan. 20. His personal record time in the 60-meter dash is also in the top 20 nationally.Bryson also was victorious in the 200-meter dash, posting a 22.05 time to win by 0.2 seconds. That mark is fourth-best in the MAC this season and second-best on the squad.
MAC Men’s Field Athlete of the Week
Rob Golabek, Buffalo
Senior, Hamburg, NY/Frontier
Rob Golabek won the men's shot put at the Cornell Upstate Challenge, breaking a Barton Hall record that had stood for more than three decades. Golabek won the event with his final throw of 62-5.75 (19.04m), winning the competition by more than a foot. Golabek surpassed the Barton Hall record of 18.46 meters, set in 1978 by Dave Doupe.
Other Nominees:
Jeanette Pettigrew, Bowling Green
Junior, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio / Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy
Jeanette Pettigrew continued her strong indoor track season with a third-place finish in the 60 meter dash with a time of 7.63 seconds, finishing behind a pair of unattached performers. Through two meets this season the junior has a first and third place performance in the 60 meter dash.
Asia Henry, Buffalo
Sophomore, Rochester, NY/Wilson Magnet
Asia Henry was part of two school records at the Cornell Upstate Challenge. She won the women's 500-meters by one-hundredth of a second over teammate Donna Jeanty in 1:14.21, breaking Jeanty's school record by more than a second. Henry also helped the women's 4x800-meter relay team to a new school mark of 9:22.31 breaking a two-year old record in the victory.
Holly Anderson, Central Michigan University
Senior, Fruitport, Mich. (Fruitport H.S.)
Additional Information: Anderson won the 3,000m run at the Red Simmons Invitational at the University of Michigan in a career-best 9:58.17. She crossed the line more than 13 seconds before the runner-up in her first 3,000m run of the season. Her time currently ranks as the 125th best time in the country so far this season, according to the Track and Field Results Reporting System.
Shantavia Williams, Eastern Michigan University
Senior, Homestead, Fla./South Dade
Additional Info: Senior Shantavia Williams was extremely successful for the Eagles at the 2012 Simmons-Harvey Invitational Saturday, Jan. 21. Williams was also a member of the winning 4x400-meter relay team for the Green and White which completed the race in 3:49.90 Williams was also able to take second place in the 200-meter dash with a time of 24.85. Shantavia Williams was behind just Tiffany Porter who ran for the Adidas team in competition at the Invite.
Shanequa Williams, Kent State
Sophomore, Akron, Ohio/Kenmore H.S.
Williams was victorious in a pair of races at the Akron Dual at the Kent State Field House Jan. 20, winning the 200-meter dash and 400-meter dash. In the 200, Williams was just one one-hundredth of a second off her personal best with a 24.48 (which leads the MAC this season). In the 400, Williams beat the field by two seconds with a time of 55.65.
Courtney Oldenburg, Northern Illinois
Junior, West Salem, Wis./West Salem HS
Courtney Oldenburg set a new career-best time in the mile Saturday at the Illini Classic and helped the Huskies to a third place finish as a team. Oldenburg placed second in the race with a time of 4:59.71, breaking her previous best time by nearly two seconds. The mark was her first PR of the 2011-12 season and her second straight meet finishing in the top two after winning the 3000 meters at the Illini Open Jan. 14.
Emma Kertesz, Toledo
Senior, Toledo, OH/Central Catholic H.S.
Kertesz continues to be one of the top striders in the Mid-American Conference, helping the Rockets track and field team place fourth out of 24 teams at the Great Dane Classic in New York City over the weekend. Running a mile-split in a time of 4:48.00, she anchored Toledo’s 4,000-meter distance medley relay team that placed first in a time of 11:45.48. The relay team’s mark set a new meet record and is the fastest time in the MAC thus far in the indoor season. Kertesz also finished third in the 1,000-meter run in a time of 2:52.62.
Iris Campbell, Western Michigan
Junior, Emmett, Mich./Yale HS
Campbell took first place in the 400 meter dash as the Notre Dame Invitational. She ran a season best time of 55.14 seconds, which also ranks tops in the MAC so far this season. Campbell also took third place in the 60 meter hurdles with a time of 8.74 seconds and helped the WMU 4x400 meter relay team to a third place finish with a time of 3:46.04.
Ariane Beaumont-Courteau, Akron
Sophomore, Montreal, Quebec/College Jean-Eudes
Beaumont-Courteau took first place in the pole vault at the Kent Duals with a clearance of 13-05.25. Her vault represents the fourth-best mark in school history and is ranked 10th individually in the nation. Beaumont-Courteau's clearance is also more than seven inches better than any other reported mark in the conference entering the week.
Ashley Harris, Bowling Green
Senior, Toledo, Ohio / Bowsher
Ashley Harris had a third-place finish in the weight throw and a fourth-place finish in the shot put at the Red-Simmons Invitational. The senior recorded a mark of 56-09.50 in the weight throw, a new season-best and 45-00.25 in the shot put. Harris finished behind a pair of athletes from Michigan in the weight throw and had three other members from Michigan surpass her in the shot put.
Megan Heffner, Central Michigan University
Sophomore, Port Austin, Mich. (North Huron H.S.)
Additional Information: With a 5-07 jump, tied for her career best, Heffner finished runner-up and was the top collegiate finisher in the high-jump at the Red Simmons Invitational at the University of Michigan. The only competitor to beat her was professional Mizuno-sponsored high jumper Nicole Forrester. Heffner's jump ranks 81st in the nation, according to the Track and Field Results Reporting System.
Rosie White, Eastern Michigan
Junior, New Albany, Ohio/New Albany
Additional Info: Rosie White took second in the long jump at the 2012 Simmons-Harvey Invite. White’s 16’ 10.75” leap was good for second, while she was also able to take a spot in the top-five in the 200-meter dash. White was able to finish the race in 25.30, good for fifth place.
Penina Acayo, Kent State
Senior, Kampala, Uganda/Nabisuna Girls School
For the third time this season, Acayo was victorious in the triple jump with a career-best 40-07.00 at the Akron Dual at the Kent State Field House Jan. 20. Her effort is tied for fourth in team history, ranks 35th nationally, and leads the MAC by over nine inches. Acayo also finished second in the long jump, improving her career best by posting an 18-00.25.
Alexandra Roberts, Miami University,
Senior, Hilliard, Ohio/Columbus School for Girls
Roberts placed third in the shot put with a season-best heave of 15.16m/49-9 Friday at the Gladstein Invitational, hosted by Indiana University. She was competing in a field of 47, which included throwers from Indiana, Cincinnati, Memphis, Southern Illinois, Ball State, Dayton, Xavier and other schools. Her throw Friday is the second-best throw in school history, less than four inches from her own school record mark. Her toss of 49-9 ranks fourth in the MAC this year and 36th nationally.
Jenner Sio, Northern Illinois
Senior, Rockford, Ill./Christian Life HS
Jenner Sio took second place in the triple jump Saturday at the Illini Classic with a distance of 38-06.25. Her mark not only helped the Huskies take third place at the meet as a team, but it was also her best mark thus far in the 2011-12 indoor season. Despite losing to Illinois' Kawanna Brooks on the final jump, Sio dominated the rest of the field, defeating third-place Halie Holloway of Murray State by over a foot and a half.
Andrea Hiler, Western Michigan
Sophomore, Watervliet, Mich./Watervliet HS
Hiler took third in the shot put at the Notre Dame Invitational. She threw a distance of 44 feet, eight inches, a new season-best mark by 10 inches. Hiler also competed for the Broncos in the weight throw.
Brad Hough, Akron
Sophomore, Imperial, Pa./Imperial HS
UA sophomore Brad Hough captured his second win in the 3,000-meters in as many weeks by crossing the line in 8:28.64 at the Kent Dual last Friday night. It was the third-fastest time in school history and four full seconds faster than the rest of the field. Adding to his big night, the Pennsylvania native also finished second in the mile, clocking a time of 4:11.30.
Miles Lewis, Buffalo
Junior, Selden, NY/Newfield HS
Miles Lewis won two sprint events at the Cornell Upstate Challenge, competing in his first meet for UB after transferring from Long Island University. Lewis claimed the 60-meters in 6.80 and the 200-meters in 22.07. Lewis was also part of UB's 4x400-meter relay team which finished second to Cornell in 3:25.37 as he ran the third leg of the race.
Ross Parsons, Central Michigan University
Sophomore, DeWitt, Mich. (DeWitt H.S.)
Additional Information: Parsons finished runner-up in the 200m dash and third in the 60m dash at the Jack Harvey Invitational at the University of Michigan. He ran a CMU season-bests of 22.22 in the 200m dash and 6.93 in the 60m dash.
Chris Hall, Eastern Michigan
Freshman, Long Beach, CA/Polytechnic H.S.
Chris won the 600m run this weekend at the Jack Harvey Invitational, finsihing 1st with a time of 1:21.45.
Daryl Baptiste, Akron
Junior, Danbury, Conn./Danbury HS
Daryl Baptiste helped lead the Zips to a dual meet victory at Kent State last weekend with a first-place finish in the long jump. The junior's winning leap of 24-00.74 ranks 35th among all Division I athletes and is the top mark in the conference to date.
Joshua Kettlewell, Central Michigan University
Senior, Croswell, Mich. (Cros-Lex H.S.)
Additional Information: Kettlewell won the pole vault at the Jack Harvey Invitational at the University of Michigan with a career-best and vault of 17-01. His winning vault was more than a foot higher than the highest from the runner-up, and is the best vault in the Mid-American Conference this season. Kettlewell now ranks 15th in the nation according to the Track and Field Results Reporting System.
Joe Tesner, Eastern Michigan
Junior, Westland, MI/Livonia Churchill H.S.
Joe finished in 3rd place at the Jack Harvey Invitational, tieing his personal best of 4.90m (16'0.75").
Dean Wood, Kent State
Senior, North Richmond, Australia/Colo H.S.
Wood broke the 7-foot barrier in the high jump Jan. 20 at the Akron Dual, as the senior cleared 2.14m (7-00.25) to not only win the event, but also post a top 25 height nationally. His jump is also the best in the MAC this season.