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OGDEN, Utah (May 8, 2017) – The Big Sky Conference has selected the final men’s and women’s Track and Field Athletes of the Week for the 2017 outdoor season. Southern Utah’s Mike Tate (men’s) and Weber State’s Jamie Stokes (women’s) each picked up their second track honor of the season. Montana State’s Alex Lewis is the men’s Field Athlete of the Week, while North Dakota’s Molli Detloff claimed the women’s field accolades.
Stokes, a senior from Ogden, Utah, broke the WSU school record in the 1,500 meters at Stanford’s Payton Jordan Invitational. She took third in section three, recording a time of 4 minutes, 15.95 seconds to surpass the Wildcat record of 4:16.07 set by Amber Henry in 2013. With that time, Stokes jumped Henry for the fourth-best time in Big Sky history, while ranking 21st in the nation and 13th in the NCAA west region.
Tate, a junior from Antigonish, Nova Scotia, put together another stellar personal-best time in the 5,000 meters at Stanford. Competing in the fastest section of the night, Tate finished seventh overall with a time of 13:34.28 and was third collegiately behind two of the top distance runners in the nation in All-American Justyn Knight of Syracuse and 17-time NCAA champion Edward Cheserek of Oregon. Tate now ranks third in Big Sky history with that time, only trailing Olympians Diego Estrada and David McNeil of Northern Arizona. Tate now ranks third nationally, only trailing Knight and Cheserek.
Detloff, a junior from Elk River, Minn., broke her own school record in the hammer throw on Friday at the NDSU Tuneup, with a toss of 202 feet, six inches (61.72m). That puts her third on the Big Sky performance lists and also improves her eight-place standing on the league’s all-time list. Detloff ranks in the top 28 in the NCAA in two throwing events now, sitting 25th in the discus (178-3) and 28th in the hammer, while sitting 14th in the west region in both.
Lewis, a sophomore from Moscow, Idaho, had the second-best mark in MSU program history in the long jump at the Tom Gage Classic. After fouling his first three attempts, Lewis exploded for a personal-best leap of 24-5 1/2 (7.45m) on his fourth try. Lewis now ranks fifth in the Big Sky in that event, with first-fifth separated by about six inches. He also sits 48th in the NCAA west region.
Other Women’s Track Nominations: Rebecca Tarbert - Eastern Washington; Maddy Dustin - Idaho; Erika McLeod - Montana; Amanda Jaynes - Montana State
Other Women’s Field Nominations: Samantha Baker - Eastern Washington; Kolcie Bates - Idaho; Carrie Jacka - Montana; Casey Teska - Montana State; Mikenna Marchment - Portland State; Julia Grimm - Sacramento State; Rebecca Wenz - Weber State
Other Men’s Track Nominations: Dawson Lack - Eastern Washington; Ben Doucette - Idaho; Jordon Wallin - Montana; Austen Hvidsten - Portland State; Andre Lindsey - Sacramento State; Joe Maloney - Weber State
Other Men’s Field Nominations: Scottie Miller - Eastern Washington; Jonny Magee - Idaho; Kyle Peterson - Sacramento State; Anthony Gregory - Weber State