NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - Davidson's Erin Osment and George Mason's Michelle Wallerstedt were named Atlantic 10 Conference Women's Track & Field Co-Performers of the Week, the league announced Monday. On the men's side, Rhode Island sophomore Mahlik Handley earned Men's Performer of the Week. Dayton's Erin Reese and La Salle's Morgan Szekely were named Co-Rookies of the Week, while Saint Joseph's David Henderson earned Men's Rookie of the Week.
Osment, who set a new mark in the 5,000 meter run a week ago, raced to a first-place finish in the 3,000-meter run. The senior crossed in 9:44.58, to break her previous record of 9:59.91, set at the 2014 Carolina Cup. The Atlanta, Ga., native finished 15 seconds before the next finisher. Osment now holds the school record in the indoor 3k, 5k and the outdoor 3k, 5k, and 10k.
Wallerstedt improved her Atlantic 10 leading mark in the discus Thursday as George Mason track and field concluded its regular season at the Penn Relays. Wallerstedt, a junior from Omaha, Neb., finished second in the women’s discus with a personal record mark of 51.87m. The distance improves her ECAC qualifying mark and moves her to 15th in the Division-I East Region.
Handley finished seventh in the college men's hammer throw at the Penn relays on Saturday. The Wakefield, R.I., product again improved his conference leading mark to 59.33m (194' 7").
Reese finished first in the shot put and set a new personal record at the RedHawk Invitational on Saturday. The freshman thrower from Mt. Prospect, Ill., posted a mark of 14.09m in the event, which is the top performance in the Atlantic 10 this season. She also took seventh in the hammer throw with a mark of 50.57m, which ranks third in the Atlantic 10.
Szekely ran a 4:55.36 anchor leg of the distance medley relay to help La Salle finish in 13th with a 11:56.67 time in the college women's distance medley relay at the Penn Relays on Thursday. The rookie from Marion, Tex., ran the third fastest leg of the 20 competitors and moved La Salle up three places on her anchoring run.
Henderson raced the third leg of the 4x200m relay that cruised through the second heat in 1:25.86 to qualify for the IC4A Final the following day. As the nine fastest teams qualify for the Championship Invitational, the quartet missed qualifying for that event by just .02 seconds. The group broke the school record in the event (1:26.52), set in 2009. Henderson and his team followed up with the silver-medal performance (1:25.96), the second fastest performance in school history, in the finals on Saturday afternoon, again running the third leg in that race. The Pittsburgh, Pa., native added the leadoff leg of the Sprint Medley Relay on Friday night, taking 15th in 3:27.85 out of 35 squads.