April 10, 2007
PARK RIDGE, IL –
Hawkeye sophomore thrower A.J. Curtis has been named Big Ten Field Event Athlete of the Week for his school record-shattering performance at the Central College Invitational in Pella, IA, last weekend.
Curtis set the school discus record and qualified for the NCAA Midwest Regional with his winning throw of 202-11. The previous record of 202-4 was set in 1986 by Gary Kostrubala. Curtis’ throw also set a meet record and smashed his previous personal best of 173-11 in that event. He and Kostrubala are the only two Hawkeyes in school history to throw over 200 feet in that event.
Curtis is the second Hawkeye to earned a weekly conference award this season. Senior distance runner Micah VanDenend was named co-Big Ten runner of the Week April 3 for his school-record setting time of 13:49.31 in the 5,000 meters at the Stanford Invitational.
The Hawkeyes’ next competition will be Friday and Saturday at the John Jacobs Invitational in Norman, OK. All events will be held at the John Jacobs Field on the Oklahoma University campus. Four distance events will take place Friday night, starting at 7:30 p.m. On Saturday field events will start at 11 a.m. and running events at 1 p.m.
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