Orediggers VanVleet wins Frontier Field Athlete-of-the-Week honors for third straight week

The following is from the Montana Tech Sports Information Department:

HELENA, Mont.- The Frontier Conference has announced this week's Erck Hotels Men's Outdoor Track and Field Athletes of the Week, and Montana Tech's Cade VanVleet once again captures the prize.  For the third straight week, the sophomore from Noxon has been named the Field Athlete of the Week. Amazingly enough, highlighted by a different event, again.

Two weeks ago in winning the award, he hit the NAIA B qualifying standard in discus, with a throw of 48.71m.  Last week the spotlight was on the hammer throw. Competing in the Yellowjacket / Battlin' Bear Open in Lockwood, VanVleet hit a new PR with a throw of 54.66m which sailed past the NAIA A standard mark and landed him with the eighth-best hammer throw in the nation.  This week the team headed west to Spokane to compete in the Whitworth Peace Meet. Competing in packed fields (45+ competitors in each, with many D1 athletes), Cade secured third place in discus and hammer. He also placed third in the shot with a throw of 15.99, crushing the NAIA A standard of 15.85. That 15.99 is a new Season Best for Cade.

In four meets this spring, Cade has finished outside the top three only once, a fifth-place finish in the hammer during the Al Manual Invite. Otherwise, he has stacked up three wins, three second-place finishes, and five thirds.

As of today, he has hit A standard in shot put with a throw of 15.99m, the 13th-best throw in the NAIA.

He has a B standard in the discus at 48.71m, which is the 16th-best in the country, and he has an A standard throw in the hammer at 54.66m, which is good for 11th-best in the country.

The Oredigger Track and Field team is back at it this Friday in Helena at the Carroll College Open.