 |
 Senior Laura Tieszen was honored by the Southern Conference as the Performer of the Week and Athlete of the Month this week. |
 |
Feb. 3, 2005
Cullowhee, N.C. - The Southern Conference today named Western Carolina's Laura Tieszen as its Women's Indoor Track and Field Athlete of the Month for her outstanding performances during the month of January.
Earlier this week, Tieszen earned the second-consecutive women's performer of the week honor from the conference, following her classmate, senior Leslie Martin who garnered the honors on January 26. Martin additionally was named the TIAA/CREF Student-Athlete of the Week during that same time frame.
Tieszen, a senior from Rapid City, SD, was the first collegian finisher at the Tiger Twilight Meet last weekend as her pole vault cleared 3.80 meters (12-5.5). She had no misses until the bar was raised to 13', or approximately 3.96 meters, which would have tied the WCU indoor all-time record held by Michelle Velez. Tieszen's current mark leads the conference rankings by more than a foot and a half, and the WCU season-best by nearly two and a half feet.
Tieszen also scored 2,618 points in the Clemson Pentathlon at the meet and that mark currently leads the Southern Conference performance rankings by 78 points.
In the first competition in January, Tieszen vaulted past the competition to notch the lone first-place finish to lead the Catamount women at the Niswonger Invitational in Johnson City, Tenn. Her mark, which was approximately a quarter of an inch shorter than the mark set at the season-opening Appalachian Invitational on Dec. 5, was six inches better than the second-place finisher.
Western's track & field teams return to action on Friday, February 4 and Saturday, February 5 in Johnson City, TN, for a meet at East Tennessee State, the site of this year's Southern Conference Indoor Track & Field championships.
|
|
 |
