Oklahoma City – Jean-Benoit Merte of John Brown University and Lorenzo Luces of Wayland Baptist earned this week’s Sooner Athletic Conference Oklahoma Ford Dealers Men’s Track and Field Athletes of the Week for their efforts during the period ending March 31, 2024, as announced by the conference office Tuesday morning.
Merte earned a B-standard this past weekend at the Southwest Baptist Invite by winning the 3000-meter Steeplechase in a time of 9:25.73. This time for Merte was a personal best by five seconds as this will be the second consecutive season that he has qualified for the NAIA Outdoor Championship Meet.
Other Nominees - Brendan Robeaux, Oklahoma City, Montreal Blacknall, SAGU, Keyshawn Garcia, Wayland Baptist, Walid Jarfani, Texas Wesleyan, and Kamron Neal, Panhandle State.
Luces claimed the title in a pair of events at the Eastern New Mexico Greyhound Open this past weekend as he won the long jump with a leap of 6.90m and then turned around to win the triple jump with a jump of 14.33m.
Other Nominees - Jordan Iwuchukwu, Oklahoma City, Aspen Jolley, Panhandle State, Gabriel Lane, Langston, Stephen Rodgers, Langston, and Logan Rogers, Texas Wesleyan.