PITMAN, NJ…Sophomore All-American
MERCEDES HICKS (Millville, NJ/Atlantic City) has been named the
New Jersey Athletic Conference Outdoor Field Athlete of the Week for week three of the 2009 spring season after breaking two school records while crushing the field in a pair of events at the season opening Osprey Open, at Richard Stockton College’s G. Larry James Stadium in Pomona, NJ on April 4.
Hicks, who finished second in the nation at the NCAA Division III Indoor Championship on March 14, earned the NJAC Outdoor Field Athlete of the Week award for the first time in her career. She was a three-time NJAC Indoor Field Athlete of the Week selection this year, earning the award in week five (February 2), six (February 9) and nine (March 2) of the winter season.
Hicks, weeks after becoming the first NJCU woman to become an indoor All-American in a throwing event, proved that she is going to be just as difficult to beat outdoors. In the shot put, she heaved the apparatus 12.72 meters (41-8.75) into a gusty wind from a passing storm to crush a field of 23 athletes. The next closest athlete had a throw of 11.56 meters (37-11)—nearly four feet shorter. Hicks just missed the NCAA Championship provisional mark of 12.90 and easily surpassed the ECAC standard of 11.60 meters.
Meanwhile, she obliterated a nearly 10-year-old school record in the event. The previous NJCU record was 11.99 meters (39-4) by Marie Glemaud on May 2, 1999 in Pomona, NJ.
In the discus, Hicks crushed the school record by more than 15 feet with a hurl of 38.39 meters (125-11.50) to exceed the ECAC standard of 35.25 while finishing first overall among 19 athletes. The next closest athlete had a mark of 37.87. The previous NJCU record was 33.68 meters (110-6) by Jamellah Mitchell on May 5, 2001 in Glassboro, NJ.
—www.njcugothicknights.com—
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