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 April 16-22:
Men's Track Athlete of the Week
Michael Norman, USC
Sophomore
Murrieta, Calif.
Norman, the Bowerman Award candidate, garners his third Pac-12 Athlete of the Week honor this season after winning the Invitational 400-meter dash at the Mt. SAC Relays with an outdoor PR of 44.53, just a hundredth of a second off his world-record indoor time (44.52) set at the 2018 NCAA Championships in March. That time bettered his third-place standing on USC's all-time outdoor list and is the fastest time by a college runner this season.
Norman is the first male to win three Pac-12 Athlete of the Week awards in a season since former USC standout and 2016 Olympic Games medalist Andre De Grasse did so in 2015. According to available records, he is only the eighth man to win three weekly awards in a season dating to 1978 (De Grasse, USC - 2015; Julian Wruck, UCLA - 2013; Ja'Warren Hooker, WASH - 2000; Josephat Kapkory, WSU - 1994; Darryl Roberson, WASH - 1989; John Brenner, UCLA - 1984; James Sanford, USC - 1980).
ALSO NOMINATED: Carlos Villarreal, ARIZONA; Zach Perrin, COLORADO; Sam Prakel, OREGON; Grant Fisher, STANFORD; Robert Brandt, UCLA; Colby Gilbert, WASHINGTON; Nick Johnson, WASHINGTON STATE.
Women's Track Athlete of the Week
Twanisha Terry, USC
Freshman
Miami, Fla.
Terry claims her second Pac-12 weekly award this season after setting two USC records at the Mt. SAC Relays on April 21. Terry won the Invitational 100-meter dash with a time of 10.99 (+1.7), which is the top wind-legal time run by any college or pro runner this season. The mark, which broke Angela Williams' USC school and freshman record of 11.04 set in 1999, is also tied for the fifth-best wind-legal time in Conference history.
Terry also anchored USC's 4x100m relay which won with a school-record time of 42.57. That time is currently second in the country and the second-fastest in league history.
ALSO NOMINATED: Claire Green, ARIZONA; Valerie Constien, COLORADO; Jessica Hull, OREGON; Vanessa Fraser, STANFORD; Christina Rice, UCLA; Grayson Murphy, UTAH; Hanna Tarleton, WASHINGTON.
Men's Field Athlete of the Week
Sander Moldau, WASHINGTON STATE
Freshman
Rakvere, Estonia
Moldau won the men's pole vault at the Bryan Clay Invitational with his second lifetime-best mark in as many days. Just one day after clearing a PR height of 5.21 meters (17-1) at the Pacific Coast Intercollegiate Meet at Long Beach, Moldau won the event at the Bryan Clay Invitational with a lifetime-best of 5.39m (17-8.25). That mark is the fourth-best in WSU all-time and the first time since 2005 that a Cougar vaulter has cleared a height that ranked in the top five in school records. His mark leads the Pac-12, is 12th-best in the NCAA West Region and 18th-best nationally.
ALSO NOMINATED: McKay Johnson, CALIFORNIA; Andrew Ghizzone, COLORADO; Tristan James, OREGON; Jaak Uudmae, STANFORD; Justin Stafford, UCLA; Nathan Bultman, USC.
Women's Field Athlete of the Week
Chaquinn Cook, OREGON
Junior
Portland, Ore.
The reigning Pac-12 triple jump champion broke the Oregon outdoor record with a career-best of 13.89 meters (45-7) to take third in the elite invitational section at the Mt. SAC Relays. The leap moved her from ninth to fourth on the Pac-12's all-time performance list, and put her in possession of both UO all-time records in both the outdoor and indoor triple jumps. Cook also finished third in Mt. SAC's open collegiate section of the long jump (6.09m/19-11.75), an event in which she currently ranks tied for No. 23 in the nation (6.28m/20-7.25).
ALSO NOMINATED: Lauren Martinez, CALIFORNIA; Maja Wichhart-Donzo, COLORADO; Jenna Gray, STANFORD; Alyssa Wilson, UCLA; Courtney Corrin, USC.
Pac-12 in the USTFCCCA National Rankings (April 23)
Men's Top 25: #9 USC, #10 Oregon, #20 Stanford
The Trojans moved ahead of the Ducks in the national rankings for the first time this season while Stanford climbed four spots back into the top 20 for the first time in three weeks.
Women's Top 25: #2 USC, #3 Oregon, #7 Stanford, #14 Arizona State
The USC women also moved in front of Oregon for the first time this season. The Pac-12's three top-10 teams and four top-15 programs is second only to the SEC (six).
Pac-12 on The Bowerman Watch List
Men's Mid-Outdoor: Michael Norman, USC.
Women's Mid-Outdoor: Kendall Ellis, USC; Maggie Ewen, ARIZONA STATE.
2018 Pac-12 Track & Field Athletes of the Week