TU Track Sweeps Crossroads League Weekly Honors

Crossroads League Release I TU Honors Page

HARTFORD CITY, Ind. – Two days after wrapping up an impressive showing at the Emory Classic in Atlanta, the Taylor track and field program saw Alex Berends, Haley White, Leslie Romer and Kenny Higgins claim all four of the Crossroads League Track and Field Athlete-of-the-Week awards.

The Trojans dominated the two-day event, topping the 24-team field to win the team championship on the women's side and finishing second out of 22 teams on the men's side.

Berends was named the Crossroads League Female Track Athlete of the Week after setting the Emory Classic facility record and automatically qualifying for NAIA Nationals with a first-place time of 10:58.37 in the steeplechase. Berends added a second-place showing in the 1,500-meter run with a time of 4:43.58.

White earned Crossroads League Female Field Athlete-of-the-Week honors by continuing a strong start to the outdoor season with a second-place showing in the javelin. White unleashed a throw of 37.33 meters to lead all NAIA competitors at the meet.

Romer was named the Crossroads League Male Track Athlete of the Week for the second-straight week by scoring wins in the 100 and 200-meter dash, while helping Taylor finish third in the 4x400-meter relay. Romer broke his own TU program record and automatically qualified for the NAIA Nationals in the 100 with a time of 10.61 and turned in a 21.89 mark in the 200.

Higgins paced the Trojans in three field events to earn Crossroads League Male Field Athlete-of-the-Week honors. Higgins turned in a mark of 13.74 meters in the shot put to take fifth, hit 44.14 meters in the discus to finish seventh and ended ninth in the hammer with a throw of 45.23 meters.

The awards by Berends, White, Romer and Higgins give the Taylor track and field program six weekly honors over the first two weeks of the 2015 outdoor season and push TU's total number of Crossroads League and MSFA Athlete-of-the-Week accolades to 55 for the 2014-2015 campaign.

TU will look for more when it competes in the DePauw Invitational on April 4. The meet is scheduled to begin at 11:00 am.