Mounties Sweep Women’s Track and Field Athletes of the Week Awards
By Garrett Christensen on Wednesday, January 18th, 2023 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
LA GRANDE – (Release from Eastern Oregon University) Eastern Oregon University Women’s Track and Field started 2023 off on the right foot sweeping the CCC Rize Laboratory Athlete of the Week awards in their first weekend back in action. Morgan Bayes was named the Women’s Track Athlete of the Week for her performance in the 60-meter hurdles and Maggie Ledbetter was named the Women’s Field Athlete of the week for her performance in the shot put.
Bayes went into the day with a PR of 9.43 in the 60-meter hurdles. She blew her personal record out of the water running a 9.27 in the prelims to start the day. She then followed that up with a record-breaking time of 9.03 in the second round. If that wasn’t good enough, she decided to shave a hundredth of a second off in the finals finishing with a time of 9.02 for good measure. Her time was good for a “B” Standard (under 9.10 seconds). Bayes’ record time replaced the old 60-meter hurdles record set by Paige Dodd in 2019.
“Morgan had a great weekend with a big breakthrough in the hurdles. She has been working hard to master the technical elements involved,” Head Coach Ben Welch said. “To drop almost half a second off one’s previous best in that short of a race is pretty impressive.”
As for Ledbetter, she wasn’t able to break her own shot put record set in 2020, but she still put together a stellar performance in the shot put. Ledbetter hit a “B” Standard throw of 42 feet and 11 inches in the women’s shot put. While it wasn’t a record breaker, it still ranks top-five in program history.
“Maggie continues to be a steady force in the throws, and it is good to see her recognized again,” Welch said.
Bayes, Ledbetter and the rest of the Mountie Track and Field team will return to action this coming weekend at the University of Idaho McClusky Open. The two-day meet will begin on Friday.
