PORTLAND, Ore. – MSUB sprinter Sam Zook was named the Great Northwest Athletic Conference's Men's Track Athlete of the Week the conference office announced Monday.
 
Zook has been powering through his second competitive year with the Yellowjacket track team, lowering the MSUB school record in the 60 meters in consecutive weeks.
 
"We are really excited for Sam after a great weekend down at Air Force," MSUB head coach Dave Coppock said. "We wanted to take just a few guys down there to a pretty competitive meet in order to work on their marks. His raw time was 6.90, but with the altitude adjustment at 7,000 feet, they add .04 seconds, but the adjustment works both ways for sprints and distance. He ran consistent times through the preliminary rounds of 6.90, 6.91 and then 6.90 in the finals, which is a very good sign. He has worked very hard for this and really did his homework over the long holiday break."
 
After lowering his own school record in the 60 meters last week at the Montana State University Open from 7.05 to 6.94,  Zook powered through the preliminaries and semi-finals at the DI Air Force Academy Invitational in Colorado, advancing to the finals on a scorching 6.90 for a six-place result and the eighth fastest time in GNAC history. 
 
In the preliminary round, the sprinter advanced to the semi's on a 6.90, following that up with a 6.91 in the semifinals, before recovering to clock-in a 6.90 again in the final round. Zook, a junior from Casper, Wyo., competed against athletes from DI and DII schools including Air Force and BYU.
 
Notes: This is Zook's first career GNAC Athlete of the Week honor…three MSUB school records were broken during last week's competitions as freshman Chuck Carr bested the 1972 6-06.00 high jump record from Mark Halland with a mark of 06-08.00 which is the 10^th best mark in GNAC history and freshman Michaela Johnson improved the 2015 MSUB record in the women's 60 meter hurdles by Hope Reid from 9.31 to 9.15…the Yellowjackets have this week off from competition, traveling to an event in Wyoming Feb. 3-4.