Washington back on top the AMC track world; named Athlete of the Week

UHSP's Taylor Washington is coming off another tremendous performance over the weekend and because of that, she was named the Track Athlete of the Week by the American Midwest Conference on Monday for the week of March 11-17.

Running in the 100m Hurdles, Washington finished second overall at the Central Methodist Open in Fayette, Mo. on Saturday with a time of 15.47. She edged out Shannon O'Neil of Culver-Stockton by 0.12 to hold onto a second-place finish. Washington finished 1.09 behind the overall winner. It was the third sub-16.00 that Washington had run in the 100m Hurdles in her young UHSP career and it becomes a new career-best topping by 0.13 her previous best that she ran at last May's AMC Championships.

In the High Jump, Washington cleared the bar at 1.40m, 1.45m and 1.50m all on her first attempts. Out of nine participants she was one of five to move past the 1.50m height. At 1.55m (5'1"), Washington failed on her first two tries before leaping over the bar on a clean third attempt. She gave three attempts at 1.58m, but could not match her overall personal best as she failed on all three attempts. But she was only one to clear at 1.55m, thus giving her a first-place finish in the event at the meet and also set a new personal outdoor record in the event.

This marks the fifth AMC Athlete of the Week award this season for Washington and the seventh overall in her career.