Ogden, Utah (February 4, 2019) – Northern Arizona University's track & field athletes senior
Jasmine Malone and freshman
Christopher Grant were both honored by the Big Sky Conference as Athletes of the Week for their performances at the Mountain T's Invitational this past week.
The Big Sky announced that Grant and Malone along with Montana's Hana Feilzer and Idaho's Zachary Short were named this week's Track Athletes of the Week.
Northern Arizona took home both the men and women's track athlete of the week honors. Malone competed in four events this past week at the Mountain T's Invitational. She also recorded times of 7.45 seconds in the 60m dash and 23.78 seconds in the 200m race. Malone also helped the Lumberjacks win the 4x400 relay and finished first in her three other events.
Malone secured her second Big Sky AOTW honor for the 2019 indoor season after running a 53.07 second race in the 400m event. The time was just short of her personal record of 52.39 seconds. Malone's race was the third best time in the 400m in the entire country this past weekend. Only South Carolina junior Aliyah Abrams (52.58 sec.) and Saint Augustine's sophomore Shannon Kalawan (52.71 sec.) were able to record better times than Malone.
"I'm honored to receive yet another Big Sky Athlete of the Week award this season," said Malone. "The closer I get to conference, the closer I get to the goals that I want to set this season!"
"Jasmine's tone has a contagiously positive effect on all components of our program," said head sprints and jumps coach
Alan Dunson. "Her greatest attributes have proven to be accepting criticism positively, technical corrections in short periods of time and blindly trusting concepts."
Grant put himself into the Lumberjack record books after his outstanding performance in the 60m dash. The freshman crossed the line at 6.74 seconds. That result would go down as the third fastest time ever for the 'Jacks in the 60m dash. He also competed in the 200m dash and recorded a time of 22.08 seconds. Grant also competed in the 4x400-meter and helped his team to a second-place finish.
"I'm thankful for this honor," said Grant. "I see this as an appreciation for the dedication, hard work and preparation I put in at training. I will use this as motivation to work harder towards eventual success first at conference and then the rest of our season."
"Christopher and I talk a lot about mental technical execution on a consistent basis," added Dunson. "It takes great focus and concentration to apply on meet day what is trained during any given session during the week. Our focus is to execute as enviornments evolve and competition enhances. He's doing very well at that thus far."
NAU will return to action on Feb. 8
th & 9
th when the program heads to both Ames, IA., and Albuquerque, N.M. for the Iowa State Classic and Don Kirby Invitational. The Lumberjacks fourth and final home indoor meet, the NAU Tune Up, will occur on Friday Feb. 15
th at the J. Lawrence Walkup Skydome. Admission to all indoor track & field home events are free to attend.
