compliments of www.ustfccca.org
NEW ORLEANS — Welcome to the outdoor season!
Here are the M-F Athletic National Athletes of the Week for March 21, 2023. Florida Memorial sprinter and NAIA Men's Indoor 60 meter national champion Saminu Abdul-Rasheed was named M-F Athletic National Men's NAIA Athlete of the Week for his recent production at the 2023 Hurricane Invitational.
- NCAA Division I Men – Jordan Geist, Arizona
- NCAA Division I Women – Sanaa Hebron, Miami (Fla.)
- NCAA Division II Men – Dejan Mileusnic, Fresno Pacific
- NCAA Division II Women – Marie-Jeanne Ourega, Academy of Art
- NCAA Division III Men – Cheickna Traore, Ramapo
- NCAA Division III Women – Corrine Weaver, Meredith
- NAIA Men – Saminu Abdul-Rasheed, Florida Memorial
- NAIA Women – Eryn Burke, Vanguard (Calf.)
- NJCAA Men – Jaivon Harrison, Bryant & Stratton (Wis.)
- NJCAA Women – Grace Obour, Western Texas
- NJCAA DIII Men – Chris Guerrieri, RCSJ Gloucester (N.J.)
- NJCAA DIII Women – Na'Shae Early, Howard (Md.) CC
Find out more about each of these athletes by scrolling below.
National Athlete of the Week is an award selected and presented by the USTFCCCA Communications Staff at the beginning of each week to 14 collegiate cross country athletes, when applicable (male and female for each of the three NCAA divisions, the NAIA and the NJCAA).
Nominations are open to the public. Coaches and sports information directors are encouraged to nominate their student-athletes; as are student-athletes, their families and friends, and fans of their programs. Nominated athletes are noticed before those athletes found through searching TFRRS.
The award seeks to highlight not only the very best times, marks and scores on a week-to-week basis, but also performances that were significant on the national landscape and/or the latest in a series of strong outings. Quality of competition, suspenseful finishes and other factors will also play a role in the decision.
Sophomore | Sprints
Ghana
No collegian from any division could match Saminu Abdul-Rasheed at the Hurricane Invitational, where he clocked a wind-aided 10.11 (+2.6mps) to win his section with nation's fastest time of the year by a collegian under all conditions.
Abdul-Rasheed showed plenty of sprint power at the NAIA Indoor Championships earlier this month, clocking 6.63 to win over Donte Sol of Multnomah (Ore.), who earlier registered 6.61 to equal the fastest-known mark in NAIA history. Abdul-Rasheed's 6.63 makes him =No. 4 on that list.
He is the first athlete from Florida Memorial to earn M-F Athletic National Athlete of the Week honors in outdoor track & field.
NAIA WOMEN – Eryn Burke, Vanguard (Calif.)
Sophomore | Sprints
Yucaipa, California
Eryn Burke bolted to the NAIA lead in two events at the Ross and Sharon Irwin Collegiate Invitational.
First up was the 400 meters, where Burke sped a lap of the Point Loma Nazarene track in an outdoor PR 55.43, which leads the NAIA by over a second. Some two hours later, she clocked a near-PR 24.49 in the 200. Burke was a finalist at the NAIA Indoor Championships, taking fifth in the 400 after a 55.05 time in the prelims.
She is the first athlete from Vanguard to be named M-F Athletic National Athlete of the Week in outdoor track & field.
