Gophers Familiar and New Garner Awards

A new face and an old favorite earned Big Ten Athlete of the Week honors for the University of Minnesota track and field teams this week.

Jack Szmanda (pictured), a redshirt freshman from Wausau, Wisconsin, earned his first-ever Big Ten Field Event Athlete of the Week award after his 5377 point heptathlon victory at Saturday's Jack Johnson Invitational. Szmanda's tally, a new Gopher freshman record in the event, put him on the provisional qualifiers' list for the NCAA Indoor Championships.

Szmanda pole vaulted 16-1 3/4, put the shot 43-10 3/4, cleared 6-2 3/4 in the high jump, landed a 21-6 1/4 long jump, clocked 7.29 seconds in the 60 meters, ran 8.61 in the 60-meter high hurdles, and legged 2:50.56 in the 1,000-meter run in the effort.

Senior Alicia Rue earned her 11th career Big Ten Field Event Athlete of the Week award for her 14-4 1/2 school record pole vault victory at the Jack Johnson. Rue's mark improved upon two NCAA automatic qualifying clearances she made already this season.

Rue, a Robbinsdale Armstrong alum, was last week's Big Ten Athlete of the Week as well.

Photo courtesy of the U of M.