Women’s Track Athlete of the Week
Janay Mitchell, Northern Illinois
Sophomore, Teaneck, N.J. (Teaneck HS)
Janay Mitchell turned in arguably the best meet performance of her career Saturday at the IWU Invitational, breaking two school records on the day. The Teaneck, N.J., native began the day with a resounding performance in the 4x200 relay, helping the Huskie quartet finish first with a time of 1:40.23, breaking the old school record by over three seconds and also setting a new meet and track record. Mitchell, though, was not done there, as she would break her own NIU record in the 60 meters. After notching the top time in the prelims at 7.60, she won the event with a 7.55 mark, shattering the facility and meet records in the process.
Women’s Field Athlete of the Week
Valerie Fraizer (Wert), Akron
Senior, Lexington, Ohio/Lexington HS
Senior Valerie Fraizer (Wert) won the women's weight throw for the third time in as many weeks, posting a mark of 63-01.50 last Saturday at the Mark Colligan Memorial, hosted by the University of Nebraska. Fraizer was the easy winner in the event, beating Nebraska's Victoria Zimmerman, who finished second, by four full feet.
Men’s Track Athlete of the Week
Brad Hough, Akron
Sophomore, Imperial, Pa./Imperial HS
Sophomore Brad Hough shattered the school record in the 3,000 meters by nearly 12 full seconds, crossing the line in 8:09.92, to win the event at the Mark Colligan Memorial, hosted by the University of Nebraska last Saturday. The time easily topped the previous milestone of 8:21.39, set in 2007 by David Howard, and is the fastest time in the conference.
Men’s Field Athlete of the Week
Joshua Kettlewell, Central Michigan University
Senior, Croswell, Mich. (Cros-Lex H.S.)
Kettlewell won the heptathlon at the Penn State National Invitational by 303 points with a score of 5,673, shattering a 13-year-old school record by 300 points. Throughout the course of the seven-component heptathlon, Kettlewell set new personal best marks in the high jump (6-04), long jump (21-21-11.5) and shot put (44-01.25), and came just inches shy of his career-best in the pole vault with a mark of 16-10.75. With a score of 5,673, Kettlewell currently ranks ninth in Division I in the heptathlon, according to the Track and Field Results Reporting System, and is just 77 points shy of the Division I automatic qualifying mark for the NCAA National Championships.
Other Nominees:
Rachel Christian, Akron
Freshman, Columbus, Ohio/Dublin Scioto HS
Freshman Rachel Christian recorded the top two times of her young career in the 60 meters and 200 meters last weekend at the Mark Colligan Memorial. Christian placed third in the 60m with a time of 7.70, then ran 25.24 in the 200m for an eighth-place finish.
Madeline Goheen, Ball State
Junior, Fort Wayne, Ind./Bishop Dwenger
To help lead the Ball State track and field team at the meet hosted by Indiana Wesleyan Saturday at Troyer Fieldhouse, junior Madeline Goheen (Fort Wayne, Ind./Bishop Dwenger) added a second-place finish in the mile with a personal-best time of 5:24.82. In the relay events, Goheen joined Emilee Zets, Lindsay Wallace, Madelyn Webster and Jordan McMillan to claim a victory in the distance medley (12:51.28).
Allison Weimer, Bowling Green
Jurnior, Pittsboro, Ind. / Brownsburg
Allison Weimer won the 600 meter run at the Tom Wright Classic this past weekend with a time of 1:36.59, a career-best, which was also just one second off of the BGSU school record.
Asia Henry, Buffalo
Sophomore, Rochester, NY
At the SPIRE Midwest Open, Asia Henry won the 800-meters in 2:09.69. Henry's clocking in the 800-meters is the fastest this season in the MAC and ninth in the country. Henry also helped the women's 4x400-meter relay team to a win in 3:46.18, cutting three seconds from the squad's previous best and posting the second-fastest time in school history. Henry was joined by Crystal Graham, Donna Jeanty and Jamiee McClary.
Shantavia Williams, Eastern Michigan University
Senior, Homestead, Fla. (South Dade)
Additional Info: Senior Shantavia Williams had a successful weekend at the Indiana Relays last weekend. The Homestead, Fla. native was the only Eagle to take a top-place at the relays when she won the 200-meter dash with a time of 24.47. She also took third in the 400-meter dash on Saturday with a 56.09 finish.
Chanitta Westbrooks, Kent State University, Freshman
Cleveland, Ohio (John Jay H.S.)
Westbrooks lit up the track with multiple standout efforts in the sprints at the Youngstown State Invitational Jan. 27. In the 60-meter dash, Westbrooks won with a 7.74 after turning in a 7.69 during the preliminary round. In the 200-meter dash, Westbrooks posted a career-best 24.93, which ranks tied for eighth in team history; she finished second overall.
Jillian Dickman, Miami University
Senior, Madison, Ohio (Madison HS)
Dickman ran in the 3000m run Saturday at the Rod McCravy Memorial, hosted by the University of Kentucky, and finished 13th in a field of 55 in a personal-best and Miami season-best time of 9:57.11, which ranks her 10th in school history. It was her first time running the event in her collegiate career while she faced tough competition, which included runners from three nationally ranked teams, four SEC schools, Ohio State from the Big Ten and Georgia Tech from the ACC, among others. Her time is the second-best time in the MAC so far this year.
Juli Accurso, Ohio
Sophomore, Casstown, Ohio/Miami East
Juli Accurso won the mile, besting her own personal best by two seconds at the Youngstown State Invitational with a time of 4:51.28
Rachel Whitley, Western Michigan
Junior, Leroy, Mich./Leroy Pine HS
Whitley took home first place in the 800 meter run at the Indiana Relays with the MAC's fastest time of 2:11.37, finishing nearly one second ahead of her closest competition Ashley Seymour of Indiana. Whitley also helped the 4x800 meter relay team take second place with a time of 9:03.62. On Friday she helped the Broncos win the distance medley relay with a time of 11:43.28, running the mile leg. The time was the second-fastest in WMU history.
Christina Crawford, Ball State
Freshman, Belleville, Mich./Romulus
Ball State posted wins in three of the 20 events, including 26 top-10 finishes, during the meet hosted by Indiana Wesleyan Saturday at Troyer Fieldhouse. Freshman Christina Crawford (Belleville, Mich./Romulus) helped to lead the Cardinals by adding a victory in the long jump with a personal best 18-01.00, in addition to tallying an eighth-place finish in the 60m dash (8.13) in the sprint events.
Ashley Harris, Bowling Green
Senior, Toledo, Ohio / Bowsher
Ashley Harris finished second in both the shot put and weight throw at the Tom Wright Classic this past weekend. The senior had a season-best 14.34 meters in the shot put at 17.58 meters in the weight throw. She finished behind unattached competitors in both events.
Becky O'Brien, Buffalo
Senior, Cumberland, ME
At the SPIRE Midwest Open, Becky O'Brien broke her own UB record to win the women's shot put. O'Brien threw 57-5.75 (17.52m) to eclipse the record she set last season by more than 16 inches, breaking the facility and Mid-American Conference marks as well and automatically qualifying her for the NCAA National Championships in Nampa, ID this March. The throw is also the third best in the nation this year.
Kim Preston, Kent State University, Senior
Greenville, Pa. (Reynolds H.S.)
Preston set a career best in the pole vault to win the event at the Youngstown State Invitational Jan. 27, posting a mark of 13-02.25. Her effort set a facility record at Youngstown’s WATTS and was just the second time in program history a women’s pole vaulter broke the 13-foot mark.
Kristen Mason, Ohio
Junior, Reynoldsburg, Ohio/Reynoldsburg
Kristen Mason finished fifth in the weight toss (15.3 meters) and also cracked the top 10 in the shot with a throw of 12.18 meters.
Sarah Ross, Western Michigan
Senior, Algonquin, Ill./H.D. Jacobs HS
Ross took first place in the pole vault, tying a indoor-career high with a height of 12 feet, 5.50 inches.
Miles Lewis, Buffalo
Junior, Selden, NY
At the SPIRE Midwest Open, junior Miles Lewis won the men's 60-meters in 6.83 seconds and placed second in the 200-meters with a season-best 21.77.
Tecumseh Adams, Central Michigan University
Sophomore, Harbor Springs, Mich. (Harbor Springs H.S.)
Additional Information: Adams smashed the 5,000m run indoor school record with a time of 13:53.08 in his season debut in the event at the Indiana Relays. The previous record of 14:06.7 had stood since 1989, and Adams becomes the first indoor track and field student-athlete in CMU history to run a sub-14:00 5,000m race. His time ranks fifth in Division I, according to the Track and Field Results Reporting System. He finished runner-up to nationally-ranked Andrew Poore of Indiana and defeated the third-place finisher by approximately 20 seconds.
Cameron Bolton, Eastern Michigan University
Freshman, Missouri City, Texas (Hightower)
Additional Info: Freshman Cameron Bolton enjoyed success at the 2012 Findlay Classic Saturday, Jan. 28. Bolton obtained the top-spot in the 200-meter dash with a 22.14 finish. He was also outstanding in the 60-meter by placing second with a time of 6.93.
Eric Hubbard, Akron
Senior, Medina, Ohio/Medina HS
Senior Eric Hubbard continued his strong start to the indoor season by recording the second-best mark in school history in the weight throw last weekend at the Mark Colligan Memorial. The native of Medina, Ohio, registered a throw of 64-07.25, which represents the top mark in the conference, to surpass his previous personal high of 64-07.25, set earlier this season.
Rob Golabek, Buffalo
Senior, Hamburg, NY
At the SPIRE Midwest Open, Rob Golabek remained undefeated this season in the shot put. Golabek won the competition with a throw of 63-1.50 (19.24m), just missing his UB and MAC records set two weeks ago by three-quarters of an inch. His throw was nearly six feet better than the second-place throw.
Aaron Crabtree, Kent State University, Senior
Lucasville, Ohio (Lucasville H.S.)
Crabtree was victorious at the Youngstown State Invitational Jan. 27, winning the shot put with his throw of 55-06.25, his season high. Crabtree’s effort in the shot put bested a 39-thrower field. Crabtree also finished fourth in the weight throw with his mark of 57-02.75.