A representative from each of the four competing schools – Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State, UC Irvine and UC Santa Barbara – at the 26th annual Big West Challenge earned Track and Field Athlete of the Week distinction.

Cal State Fullerton junior Thaddeus Smith (Pasadena, Calif./Damien HS) earned his third career Big West Men’s Track Athlete of the Week award as he helped the Titans to the team title at the Big West Challenge.  Smith won both the 100-meter and 200-meter dash for the second week in a row.  In the 100m, he clocked 10.57.   His time of 21.00 in the 200m represented the fastest in the Big West this year and placed him at No. 20 in the West Region.  Smith, who won the award twice as a freshman, also competed in the 4x400 relay, and helped the Titan quartet to a season-best time of 3:12.53 for second place in the event.

Earning her first career Big West Women’s Track Athlete of the Week award, UC Santa Barbara junior Hope Bender (Newport Beach, Calif./Newport Harbor HS) contributed to the school’s third straight Big West Challenge team title.  Bender did her work in the hurdles, winning both the 100-meter and 400-meter races.  She really impressed in the 400-meter hurdles with a season-best time of 58.68 seconds – the No. 2 mark in the Big West this season.  Bender won the event by nearly a whopping four seconds, and shaved time off her No. 2 all-time mark at UCSB (58.87) to inch closer to the school record of 58.32 by Amanda Rodriguez in 2013.  Bender also won the 100-meter hurdles rather handily in 13.86 seconds, trailing her season-best and No. 1 Big West mark of 13.62 set on Mar. 31 at the Legends Invitational.

Long Beach State junior Nico Hudson (Hanford, Calif./Kings Christian HS) became the first two-time winner of Big West Men’s Field Athlete of the Week honors this season with a pair of solid performances in the hammer throw and discus.  Hudson captured gold in the hammer at the Big West Challenge with a heave of 201-04 (61.36m), surpassing the 200-foot mark for the first time in his career.  He is also just the eighth 49er in program history to break the 200-foot plateau.  That mark is also No. 2 in the Big West, No. 24 in the West Region and No. 54 nationally.  The performance bettered his previous PR by eight feet, seven inches.  Hudson also notched a third place finish in the discus with a throw of 170-04 (51.93m).  He set another lifetime best with that effort, improving by two and a half feet.

Junior Barbara Coward (Atwater, Calif.Buhach Colony HS) is UC Irvine’s first honoree this year as she captured Big West Women’s Field Athlete of the Week accolades after landing at the top of the conference leaderboard in the hammer and discus.  Coward was a double champion at the Big West Challenge.  She recorded two personal records in the hammer competition.  Coward posted a 181-08 on her third attempt before exploding for a toss of 187-07 on her fourth and final throw.  She shattered her PR coming into the meet by over 10 feet and broke the UCI record of 182-05 set by Bridget Devaney two years ago.  Coward’s throw is 35th in the NCAA West Region.  A couple of hours later, Coward returned to win in the discus with a season-best and conference-leading toss of 169-03, leading the rest of the Big West by over eight feet.  It was the second straight year she took gold in the discus at the Big West Challenge.

Others nominated (Men’s Track): T’Jari Packard (CSUN); Michael Kojin (UC Riverside); Myles McDonald (UC Santa Barbara)

Others nominated (Women’s Track): Samantha Huerta (Cal State Fullerton); Sydney Mosley (CSUN); Courtne’ Davis (Long Beach State); Persis William-Mensah (UC Irvine)

Others nominated (Men’s Field): Dwayne Lee (Cal State Fullerton); Daniel Swarbrick (CSUN); Kordell Hampton (UC Santa Barbara)

Others nominated (Women’s Field): Caice Lanovaz (Cal Poly); Laura Hamann (Cal State Fullerton); Sydney Berry (CSUN); Kayla Thayer (UC Santa Barbara)