James, Ruffin Earn First Men’s Indoor Track and Field Weekly Awards of 2017
Southland Conference
2017 Southland Indoor Track & Field Week One Recap
FRISCO, Texas – Northwestern State junior Amir James and Southeastern Louisiana sophomore Rodney Ruffin earned the first weekly men’s awards of the 2017 indoor track and field season, the league announced Wednesday. Both competed at last weekend’s Purple Tiger Invitational hosted by LSU in Baton Rouge, La. Southland Conference Athletes of the Week are presented by
UniversalCoin.com.
Men’s Track Athlete of the Week – Amir James, Northwestern State
James took a first-place finish in the 60-meter dash at the LSU Purple Tiger Invitational. The Missouri City, Texas native finished third in the preliminaries with a time of 6.88 seconds before going on to post a 6.76 in the finals to seal his top finishing spot. The junior sprinter improved on his fifth-place result last year in the same event.
Honorable Mention: Andre Colbrook, Southeastern La.; Enrique Soto, McNeese.
Men’s Field Athlete of the Week – Rodney Ruffin, Southeastern Louisiana
Ruffin cleared a school-record 7 feet, 0.5 inches to take first place in the high jump at the LSU Purple Tiger. The mark is currently the best in the Southland and tied for the sixth-best in the nation in 2017. The sophomore out of Gautier, Miss. went on to take fourth place in the long jump with a mark of 23 feet, 1.25 inches.
Honorable Mention: Kyrin Tucker, Northwestern State; John Lemke, McNeese.
Northwestern State next travels to Alabama for the Vulcan Invitational hosted by University of Alabama at Birmingham on Saturday, Jan. 14 while Southeastern La. heads to Lake Charles, La. to take part in the McNeese Opener on Friday, Jan. 13.
Each school’s sports information director nominates and votes for the athletes of the week, though is not permitted to vote for his or her own student-athlete. To receive honorable mention, an athlete must receive votes from 25 percent of the Southland sports information directors
.