MOREHEAD, Ky. –
Kalynn Pease keeps making history at Morehead State. The freshman track and field star earned her 10th, 11th and 12th Ohio Valley Conference Athlete of the Week honors on Thursday when for the second time this season she was named the Female Track Athlete of the Week, Female Field Athlete of the Week and Female Freshman of the Week in an announcement from the league office.
It is only the second time in OVC history that one individual won three OVC weekly awards in the same week. Both times it was done by Pease.
"Tom Brady, Michael Jordan,
Brad Laux. What do these people have in common? They were the best. Add Kalynn to that group," said MSU head coach Clay Dixon.
Pease earned the honors based on her performance at last Friday and Saturday's Jim Green Invitational at Kentucky. There, she broke her own school record in the 200-meter dash, ran her fourth sub-11.9-second 100-meter dash, was part of MSU's second-fastest 4x100-meter relay ever and placed second in the long jump. Among her other accomplishments, she also defeated every OVC competitor in her events.
"I didn't expect to win all 3 of those honors again!!" she said. "That's really cool though and I'm just hoping to have a healthy rest of the season with OVC and regionals/nationals coming up.
"It's pretty cool I went the whole outdoor season being named OVC freshman of the week every week I competed," she added.
She began the day with the long jump. She led the prelims with a top leap of 6.19m (20'03.75") but withdrew from the finals and eventually finished second. It was the third straight meet she eclipsed 20 feet. She remains tied for seventh nationally in the event and leads the OVC by nearly a foot and a half.
"I didn't do finals in long jump because there was no use of me doing those extra reps when I had the 200 coming up," she said.
It was the 200m, where she really made her mark, setting a school record by 41-hundredths of a second in 23.66. She beat 18 power-conference runners and all three entries from Southeast Missouri, finishing ninth.
"The 200m was shocking! I didn't expect to be that low into the 23s. I was expecting 23.9," she said. "I guess I should start raising my expectations for myself and shooting for the stars more."
On the second day, she ran the leadoff leg of the 4x100m relay that placed fourth. The team finished in 47.01. It was two-hundredths of a second off the school record.
Pease ended the meet by taking 12th in the 100m in 11.88.
"I would say I did as well as I could have done given the chillier weather especially on day two," she said.
In the OVC, she leads the long jump and the 200m, and ranks second in the 100m.
This year, she won the Freshman of the Week five times (December 17, March 25, April 1, April 15 and April 29), sharing the April 1 honor; was chosen co- Track Athlete of the Week on March 25; and captured the Field Athlete of the Week three times (March 25, April 1 and April 29), sharing the honor on April 1.
The team has also won five other OVC Athlete of the Week honors, all of which came during the indoor season.
Other winners this week included: Eastern Illinois' Nathan Kirby (Male Track Athlete of the Week), Western Illinois' Maleigha Huston (Co-Female Track Athlete of the Week), Southeast Missouri's Matt Pluff (Male Field Athlete of the Week), Southeast Missouri's Jon'David White (Male Freshman of the Week). MSU also nominated Weston Blair for Male Track Athlete of the Week.
Morehead State will return to action for the OVC Championships May 14-16 in Little Rock, Ark.
