Bearcats Sweep American’s Weekly Field Honors

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

JANUARY 24, 2017

CONTACT: Alex Ryan (alex.ryan@uc.edu / c (513) 623-9992 / @al3xryan)

 

Full Release on Website Link: http://bit.ly/2j1gHxi

 

Bearcats Sweep American’s Weekly Field Honors

Echikunwoke, Valles both tabbed as field athletes of the week after impressive results

 

CINCINNATI - The American Athletic Conference has announced Tuesday (January 24) its weekly awards recipients with two members of the University of Cincinnati track and field program collecting honors this week as Annette Echikunwoke and Adrian Valles combined to give the Bearcats a sweep of the weekly field awards. Both individuals are collecting their second honors of the season with Valles repeating from last week and Echikunwoke adding to the field honor she earned in the first awards handed out December 13.

 

Echikunwoke continued her assault on the record book in the weight throw over the weekend at the Gladstein Invitational as she upped her personal best and school-record mark by 2’ 6.5” with a huge toss of 22.53m (73-11.00) in the first round of competition. That mark, which improved her PR total since the end of the 2015 season by 13’ 11”, moved her into the top spot on the NCAA lists and also placed her second on the world lists. The conference leader 8’ 9.75”, Echikunwoke’s mark also ranks 21st all-time in the world rankings.

 

Valles also continued his hot streak in competition as he won his third pole vault event in a row, this time easily taking the event at the Gladstein Invitational with a clearance of 5.52m (18-01.25). After easy first-attempt clearances at 5.10m and 5.30m, Valles moved the bar up to 5.52m and cleared on his third attempt to take over the NCAA lead. He then set his aim on attempting to clear 5.66m, which would have bettered his lifetime best of 5.65m. Although he didn’t clear the higher mark, he ended the day with the top mark in the nation and would end the weekend at No. 2 in the nation after a competitor cleared 5.53m the following day.

 

So far this season, Echikunwoke and Valles have earned four weekly accolades from the American with Bryana Robinson joining them as Bearcats that were honored after she was tabbed for the women’s track honor on January 17.

 

The Bearcats return to action this Friday and Saturday as they will venture to Huntington, W.Va., to compete in the Thundering Herd Invitational hosted by Marshall.

 

2016-17 American Athletic Conference Weekly Honors

Week 4 (January 24)

Women’s Track - Anne-Marie Blaney (UCF)

Women’s Field - Annette Echikunwoke (Cincinnati)

Men’s Track - Eli Hall (Houston)

Men’s Field - Adrian Valles (Cincinnati)

 

Season Honors for Cincinnati

Women’s Track:

- Bryana Robinson - January 17

 

Women’s Field:

- Annette Echikunwoke - December 13 & January 24

 

Men’s Track:

- n/a

 

Men’s Field:

- Adrian Valles - January 17 & January 24

 

 

Alex Ryan

Director, University of Cincinnati Athletics Communications

Contact for Cross Country // Track & Field // Women’s Soccer

alex.ryan@uc.edu // (513) 623-9992 // @al3xryan