Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Rue, Kabia Earn Big Ten Recognition

Alicia Rue and Ibrahim Kabia earned Big Ten Athlete of the Week honors yesterday for sterling performances at the Minnesota Open over the weekend.

Rue, a Robbinsdale Armstrong alum, was named the Big Ten Field Athlete of the Week for the second straight week after she won the Minnesota Open pole vault with a school record clearance of 14-4. The mark is an automatic qualifier for the NCAA Championships in March.

(See a photo of the clearance and an interview with Rue's event coach Caroline White, below.)

Kabia (pictured), a senior from Brooklyn Center, was named the Big Ten’s Co-Men’s Track Athlete of the Week after speeding 6.64 in the 60-meter dash at the meet on Saturday. Kabia's mark fell just .01 off the school record 6.63 he ran at the NCAA Championships in 2007. The time is a provisional qualifier for NCAAs.

Photo courtesy of the U of M.

1 comment:

Mike said...

We're looking for more NCAA/NAIA track and field coverage at www.collegefanz.com, the largest college sports site on the net. Our goal is to give the same attention to all sports, not just the ones typically covered in traditional media (football, basketball).

You could create a free blog there, then post college track articles, and at the end link back to "Down the Backstretch". You'd gain traffic back here and increased recognition for your favorite athletes/events, as we offer a national platform and a built-in audience to all our bloggers.

Take a look around the site and let me know if you're interested at mgleeson@collegefanz.com.

Mike