FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT Evan O’Kelly Director of Communications O: (406) 657-2130 E: evan.okelly@msubillings.edu Monday, February 6, 2017 School record earns Flanagan GNAC Player of the Week award
Nels Flanagan drops his MSUB school-record mark in the weight throw on Saturday, and is named the GNAC Player of the Week announced Monday. PORTLAND, Ore. – Though junior Nels Flanagan already had a firm grip on the Montana State University Billings school record in the indoor track and field weight throw, he bettered his own mark and has been named the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Player of the Week announced on Monday. Flanagan unleashed a toss of 53-11.25 at the Conglomerate Open in Gillette, Wyo., on Saturday, bettering his previous mark by more than a full foot. “Nels’ training has been going well, and he has been throwing that far in practice,” commented MSUB assistant coach Jon Woehl. “It is nice to see it all come together in a meet and I know he is hoping to inch closer to the provisional qualifying mark.”
Flanagan is now less than 2.5 feet shy of posting a provisional national qualifying mark for the NCAA Division II Championships. His throw on Saturday was the fourth best in the GNAC this season as well. The MSUB indoor record sat at 52-2.75 entering the weekend, a distance Flanagan achieved a season ago and matched exactly at the Air Force meet two weeks ago. The 6-foot-4 junior is in his third season of competition with the Yellowjackets, and he was one of three team members to break school records last week. Daniel Kelloway of Simon Fraser University was named the male track player of the week, and on the women’s side Addy Townsend of SFU and McKenna Emmert of Central Washington University were picked as the track player of the week and field player of the week, respectively. This is Flanagan’s first-career GNAC Player of the Week award, and it is the second overall of the indoor season for MSUB. Junior Sam Zook earned the honor a week ago after setting a school record of his own in the 60-meter dash. Flanagan and the Yellowjackets have one more meet before the GNAC Indoor Championships, which are scheduled for Feb. 17-18 at Northwest Nazarene University in Nampa, Idaho. --@MSUBSports | #JacketNation--