Tiffin's Hargrove Earns USTFCCCA Division II Track Athlete of the Week

Courtesy of Dennis Young, USTFCCCA

NEW ORLEANS — The 2015 GLIAC Indoor Track & Field Championships brought out the best in Tiffin sophomore sprinter Lamar Hargrove on his way to being named USTFCCCA NCAA Division II National Men's Track Athlete of the Week.

DIVISION II MEN – Lamar Hargrove, Tiffin

Sophomore | Cincinnati, Ohio

Hargrove, the defending DII indoor 200 champ, notched a blowout win at the GLIAC championship meet. His 20.93 seconds–now the national leader–won his section by nearly a second, and was the fastest in the two-section final by a whopping 0.72 seconds. Hargrove had been a little slow to recapture his 2014 peak, not breaking 21.2 before this weekend. Now he has a new career indoor best.

Don’t be fooled by the national leaderboard’s conversions: no DII athlete has come within three-tenths of a second of Hargrove’s time in the 200 this winter. 20.93 is the fastest time in the NCAA outside of Division I this year.

He also took the GLIAC title at 60 meters – another event in which he is the defending national champion – in 6.70, good for the No. 2 spot on the national descending order list.

Speaking of the national descending order lists, Hargrove is No. 1 at 200 meters and No. 2 at 60; former National Athlete of the Week Emmanuel Matadi of Minnesota State is No. 1 at 60 meters and No. 2 at 200.

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National Athlete of the Week is an award selected and presented by the USTFCCCA Communications Staff at the beginning of each week to eight (male and female for each of the three NCAA divisions, plus the NJCAA) collegiate track & field athletes. 

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.

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.