BELLINGHAM, Wash. – Western Washington University senior javelin thrower Bethany Drake has been named the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Women’s Field Athlete of the Week after placing 5th in the javelin at the Stanford Invitational on Friday before winning the event at the San Francisco State Distance Carnival on Saturday with a mark ranking 2nd nationally.
Drake (Sandy, OR) placed 5th in the invitational section at the Stanford Invitational on Friday in her season debut while competing primarily against NCAA Division I student-athletes as the only Division II competitor. Her mark of 46.30m (151-11) was a Division II provisional-qualifying performance.
On Saturday, Drake improved upon her mark from Friday with a winning distance of 47.62m (156-3) at the San Francisco State Distance Carnival. She placed 1st of 23 with a mark well ahead of the 2nd-place distance (40.15m/131-9). Drake, a two-time All-American and the 2014 javelin national champion, leads the GNAC and ranks 2nd nationally with her provisional-qualifying mark set on Saturday.
Drake earned a GNAC weekly honor for the sixth time in her career. She was a three-time GNAC Women’s Field Athlete of the Week honoree during the 2016 season as well as the GNAC Female Athlete of the Year.
The WWU track & field program returns to competition on Saturday at the Emilie Mondor Invitational, hosted by Simon Fraser in Burnaby, B.C.
— @WWUTFXC —