Cullowhee, N.C. – For the third time this outdoor season, the Western Carolina track and field team earned the lion's share of the Southern Conference weekly spotlight as Christian Roberts, Austin Cline, and Toria Roundtree each earned SoCon weekly honors.
Roberts was named the SoCon Men's Track Athlete of the Week, with Cline collecting the men's field award. Roundtree was named the SoCon Women's Field Athlete of the Week, each coming following last weekend's VertKlasse Meeting, hosted by High Point University.
It's the third time this season that the Catamounts have earned three of the four available outdoor weekly honors, with Cline collecting his third overall honor. Christian Roberts and Toria Roundtree join two-time selection Trevor Williams, along with Shaneil Lysight and Sadler Miller, as WCU's honorees during the outdoor season.
Roundtree's first career weekly SoCon field athlete of the week honors came after a pair of personal best performances in the discus and the shot put at the VertKlasse Meeting. Her best mark of the weekend came in the discus, where the senior posted a toss of 45.98m, now the third-best attempt in program history. She currently leads the SoCon performance charts in the event. Additionally, Roundtree set a PR in the shot put with a 12.16m toss on her third attempt of the day.
Cline's third outdoor honors came after another personal best performance, this time in the men's hammer throw with a 55.38m mark. Cline took a third-place finish in the elite section of the event and was the only non-P4 athlete with a throw over 55.25m. The junior is fifth in the all-time top five performance list with the throw.
Roberts earned SoCon weekly honors for the first time in his career after a personal best performance in the 110m hurdles and a strong close in the 400m hurdles in his first outdoor action of the season. The Spartanburg, S.C. product took second place in the 400m hurdles with a 52.71s sprint and was one of only two athletes with a sub-53s time. His 52.71s finish leads the Southern Conference in the event. He set a personal best in the 110m hurdles, taking fifth on the day with a time of 14.35s, currently the top performance in the SoCon.
Up Next for The Catamounts:
The Western Carolina track and field teams split for the week, traveling to Durham for the Duke Invitational (April 10-11), with part of the squad also attending the Lenoir-Rhyne-hosted Southside Power and Fitness Invitational (April 10-11) in Hickory.
Though the Duke Invitational officially started with the combined events on April 8, the Catamounts are set to see action in Durham beginning at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, April 9, with the women's hammer throw.
The Southside Power and Fitness Invitational gets started at 10 a.m. on Friday, April 10, with the multi-events, before rolling into the women's javelin at Noon.
