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A dominant start to the 2018-19 indoor track and field season has allowed Ashland University's indoor track and field teams to land three Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference honors for the second week in a row.
As announced by the GLIAC on Tuesday (Dec. 11) afternoon, senior Myles Pringle (Men's Track Athlete of the Week), sophomore Brent Fairbanks (Men's Field Athlete of the Week) and senior Natalie Helenthal (Women's Field Athlete of the Week) earned conference awards in Week 2.
Pringle won both the men's 400-meter dash and men's high jump on Friday (Dec. 7) at the Youngstown State Icebreaker – breaking facility records and automatically qualifying for 2019 indoor nationals, March 8-9 at Pittsburg State (Kan.), in both events in the process. Pringle crossed the 400 finish line in 46.14 seconds (NCAA Division II's top mark so far this season), and ended the high jump at a school-record 2.19 meters/7-feet-2¼.
At the Findlay Oiler Opener on Saturday (Dec. 8), Fairbanks won the men's weight throw with a top heave of 21.62 meters/70-feet-11¼, leaving him at No. 1 in the country in the event.
Also at Findlay on Saturday, Helenthal's season debut resulted in a provisional for nationals and a win in the women's weight throw at 19.85 meters/65-feet-1½.
Pringle now has 11 GLIAC weekly awards, Helenthal has two and Fairbanks has earned his first.
In Week 1, redshirt freshman Lindsay Baker was the GLIAC Women's Field Athlete of the Week, junior Gariana Bercheni was the GLIAC Women's Track Athlete of the Week, and senior Jim Toth was the GLIAC Men's Field Athlete of the Week.
Ashland's men and women will return from Christmas/New Year's break and go back to Findlay for its Open on Jan. 12.
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