KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The MIAA announced its first installment of the 2021 Men's Outdoor Track & Field Athletes of the Week awards program. Washburn's Kevin Norville was the Field Athlete of the Week while Rogers State's Nick Williams won the Track Athlete of the Week award.
Norville won the triple jump and recorded an NCAA provisional mark with a leap of 15.06m (49-05.00) in his first event of the season at the ESU Spring Invitational.
Williams ran second overall in a field that included six Division I runners in the 3,000-meter Steeplechase at the Alan Connie Shamrock Invitational in Myrtle Beach, S.C. Williams ran a 9:34.15, finishing 4.17 seconds off the winner. The time was just 11.23 seconds shy of his personal best in the event, after not running competitively in a collegiate competition in over a year. Williams also had a top-five finish in the 5,000-meter run. The senior ran a 14:56.18, setting a new personal best with fourth overall in a field that featured 12 Division I runners.
Notable Performances (Listed alphabetically)
Taysean Goodwin - Emporia State
Goodwin made his return to the track for the Hornet men as he came away with an event championship and provisional qualifying mark. He ran a personal best of 10.50 to win the 100m in a provisional qualifying time that ranks sixth all-time at Emporia State. He is currently ranked No. 1 in the nation in the event. He also ran 21.93 in the 200m to place ninth at the Spring Invite and currently ranks 17th in the nation.
Travis Morrison - Emporia State
Morrison moved into third on the Emporia State all-time list in the men's shot put. His mark of 57-07 (17.55m) was second in the event and is currently ranked third in the nation. He passed Alec Garcia, who threw 56-06 at the 2017 MIAA Championships and only trails former national champions Al Feuerbach (65-00 at the 1970 AAU Championships) and Jason Stuke (61-10.50 at the 1998 Drake Relays) on the Hornets all-time list.
Ryan Stanley - Fort Hay State
Stanley won the pole vault competition at the ESU Spring Invite with a clearance of the 16-6.75 bar, currently third-best on the NCAA Division II provisional performance list.
Brett Thompson - Pittsburg State
Thompson posted the second best mark in NCAA Division II on the young outdoor season with his winning toss in the javelin at the Emporia State University Spring Invitational. The Erie, Kan., native won the discipline with a personal best toss of 223 feet, 11 inches. His toss stands as the fifth best mark in Pitt State history.
Also Nominated
Logan Bell - Missouri Southern | Grant Bradley, Fort Hay State | Reuben Nichols, Lincoln