Pac-12 announces outdoor track & field athletes of the week

The Pac-12 Conference outdoor track and field athlete of the week honors for the week of March 20-26:

Men's Track Athlete of the Week
Rai Benjamin, UCLA
Sophomore
Mount Vernon, N.Y.

Benjamin won both the 400-meter dash and hurdles in meet record times at the Pac-12 vs. Big Ten Challenge last week. He captured the 400m in a personal-best and nation-leading time of 46.17, then came back to win the 400m hurdles in the second-fastest time in the country at 50.40. He started off the meet by running the second leg of the UCLA 4x100m relay that clocked at 39.91 - the fastest time by a Bruin relay since 2012.

ALSO NOMINATED: Jaron Thomas, Colorado; Just'N Thymes, USC

Women's Track Athlete of the Week
Deanna Hill, USC
Junior
Orlando, Fla.

Hill took second in the 100-meter dash at the Aztec Invitational with a PR of 11.18 (+1.8). That time is also second in the country and moves her from ninth to seventh on USC's all-time 100m list. She also anchored USC's winning 4x100m relay which posted a time of 43.97, currently third in the country.

ALSO NOMINATED: Sage Watson, Arizona; Eriana Henderson, Colorado; Venessa D'Arpino, Oregon State; Poppy Tank, Utah

Men's Field Athlete of the Week
Brock Eager, Washington State
R-Sophomore
Renton, Wash.

Eager won the hammer with a PR mark of 68.60 meters (225'-1") at the 12th Sam Adams Classic at Whitworth University in Spokane on Thursday. His mark currently leads the Pac-12 and is second-best nationally. This marked the second time in less than a week that Eager threw a hammer mark that is in the WSU all-time top 10, with this week's toss moving him to fourth-best in school history. In WSU records, the men's hammer top 10 had been dormant for 18 years until Eager's March 17 throw at the USC Trojan Invite.

ALSO NOMINATED: Kyle Long, Arizona State; Peter Simon, California; Matthew Denton, Colorado

Women's Field Athlete of the Week
Maggie Ewen, Arizona State
R-Junior
St. Francis, Minn.

Ewen earned the Pac-12 women's field honor for the second time in as many weeks as she won a pair of Pac-12 vs. Big Ten Challenge events in meet-record fashion. In her first discus event of the season, she posted the second-best mark in the country at 59.83 meters (196'-3"). Ewen then followed up last week's national-best hammer mark with a winning throw of 71.72 meters (235'-4"), good for second nationally only to her 72.71 mark the previous week.

ALSO NOMINATED: Lauren Martinez, California; Delaney Hall, Colorado; Brittany Mann, USC; Chrissy Glasmann, Utah

2017 Pac-12 Track & Field Athletes of the Week
Men's Track: March 21 - Ashtyn Davis, CAL; March 28 - Rai Benjamin, UCLA

Women's Track: March 21 - Chelsey Albertson, ASU; March 28 - Deanna Hill, USC

Men's Field: March 21 - Nick Ponzio, USC; March 28 - Brock Eager, WSU

Women's Field: March 21 - Maggie Ewen, ASU; March 28 - Maggie Ewen, ASU