ST. LOUIS- Just two meets into Shocker career, freshman Mariah Garcia has earned the Missouri Valley Conference Field Athlete of the Week Award for April 9.

Garcia shattered the Wichita State discus record for the second consecutive week with a throw of 179-3 at the Skechers SFA Alumni Invitational. This throw earned Garcia her second victory in two meets this season. She defeated the rest of the field by over 11 feet.

“It means a lot,” Garcia said.  “I've worked really hard to get this way so it feels really good to have this accomplishment.”

As a result of this performance, Garcia ranks fifth in the NCAA in the discus throw. She also has the top throw in the Valley and leads all other MVC athletes by 2.75 feet.

In her first meet of the season, the Arkansas Spring Invitational, Garcia picked up her first collegiate victory with a throw of 175-7, 13 feet better than her closest competition. In the first throw of her college career, Garcia broke the Shocker discus record by over nine feet.

She improved this record by 3.75 feet in her second meet of the season. Despite this success, Garcia is not satisfied and wants to do better this week at the KT Woodman Classic.

“It's a home meet, so I definitely want to do way better than the last two,” Garcia said. “I'm going to try and break 180 this time. I've been getting closer and closer so hopefully this time I can break it.”

Watch Garcia and the rest of the Wichita State Track & Field team as they host their first home meet of the outdoor season, the KT Woodman Classic. The college portion of this meet takes place on April 12-13 at Cessna Stadium. For a full meet schedule and other information on the KT Woodman Classic, visit the meet central page.

For tickets to this, and other Shocker home meets, contact the Shocker Ticket Office online here, by phone at 316-978-FANS (3267, or visit them in person at the southwest corner of Charles Koch Arena. 

-Wichita State-