March 13, 2012
IRVINE, Calif. - Sarah Sumpter, whose time of 16 minutes 33.91 seconds in the 5,000-meter run at Saturday's Aggie Open vaulted her to No. 3 all-time at UC Davis, was named the Big West Women's Track Athlete of the Week, it was announced on Tuesday.
Sumpter, a junior from Cloverdale, posted a nation-leading time in the race and a PR by nearly 20 seconds while leading a 1-2-3 Aggie finish at the season-opening meet. Sumpter won the event by more than 28 seconds. Her previous best was 16:52.65.
Sumpter, who was also honored last week in Anaheim as UC Davis' 2011-12 Big West Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year, moved into third place on the Aggies' career leaders list, moving past Patti Gray (16:34.87, 2005) and trailing only Kaitlin Gregg (16:21,99, 2010) and school-record holder and current assistant coach Kim Conley (16:17.51).
Jacob Yowell of UC Irvine won the Men's Track Athlete of the Week honor for the second straight week while UC Riverside's Ryan Swafford (men's field) and Nikki James (women's field) also received accolades.
UC Davis had several strong performances at the Aggie Open last week and returns to action on Saturday at the Hornet Invitational at Sacramento State.
