M-F Athletic National Athletes of the Week (May 23)
NEW ORLEANS – What an incredible year.
This duo closed out the regular season with a bang.
Here are our M-F Athletic National Athletes of the Week for May 23, 2023!
- NCAA Division III Men — Sam Blaskowski, UW-La Crosse
- NCAA Division III Women — Gabrielle Noland, Loras
National Athlete of the Week is an award selected and presented by the USTFCCCA Communications Staff at the beginning of each week to 14 collegiate cross country athletes, when applicable (male and female for each of the three NCAA divisions, the NAIA and the NJCAA).
Nominations are open to the public. Coaches and sports information directors are encouraged to nominate their student-athletes; as are student-athletes, their families and friends, and fans of their programs. Nominated athletes are noticed before those athletes found through searching TFRRS.
The award seeks to highlight not only the very best times, marks and scores on a week-to-week basis, but also performances that were significant on the national landscape and/or the latest in a series of strong outings. Quality of competition, suspenseful finishes and other factors will also play a role in the decision.
NCAA DIVISION III MEN – Sam Blaskowski, UW-La Crosse
Sophomore | Sprints | Oshkosh, Wisconsin
Sam Blaskowski figured Derrick Rippy held the NCAA DIII 100-meter record long enough.
After all, 40 years was a pretty good run (Rippy set the division’s former all-time best of 10.18 back in 1983 during a dual meet against the University of Akron).
Notice how we wrote “former,” because Blaskowski shattered the mark yesterday at the UW-La Crosse Qualifier with a wind-legal 10.16 (+1.9). Blaskowski shot out of the blocks in the prelims and ended up winning his heat by one-half second with that blistering mark.
Back in April, Blaskowski first made overtures at Rippy’s standard when he clocked a wind-legal 10.20 at the Ashton May Invitational. At the time, Blaskowski was the third-fastest man in NCAA DIII history behind Rippy and Chaz Clemons of Lincoln (Pa.).
Now, Blaskowski sits alone at the top.
This is the second time this season that Blaskowski has been named M-F Athletic National Athlete of the Week. He previously earned national weekly honors on April 11.
NCAA DIVISION III WOMEN – Gabrielle Noland, Loras
Senior | Sprints | Rockford, Illinois
Gabrielle Noland saved her best for last – so far.
Noland, competing at the Augustana College Midwest Twilight Qualifier, clocked an NCAA DIII-leading 53.72 over 400 meters, which moved her up to No. 7 in NCAA DIII history with the best mark since 2018. That also gave her the section win by more than one second.
Earlier in the meet, Noland anchored the Loras 4×100 relay to the second fastest time in NCAA DIII history of 45.72, just 0.07 seconds off the 11-year-old division best of 45.65 set by Methodist in 2012.
In addition to those marks, the Duhawk standout helped her squad to the top-ranked mark in the 4×400 relay as well as sits No. 3 on the Descending Order List in the 200.
This is the second time in her career that Noland has been named M-F Athletic National Athlete of the Week during the outdoor season. Noland previously earned national weekly honors four years ago on April 23, 2019. That’s when Noland was just a freshman with the Duhawks.