INDIANAPOLIS – The first selections for Great Midwest Athletic Conference Women’s Indoor Track and Field Athletes of the Week were released with nationally ranked programs garnering honors.
 
Women’s indoor track and field features four nationally-ranked teams in the Great Midwest, including Findlay (No. 6), Hillsdale (No. 10), Walsh (No. 19) and Cedarville (No. 20).
 
A few records from the conference archives were already shattered in week one of what should be an exciting season to follow through to the Great Midwest Championships at Hillsdale.

Records in the 5K race, pole vault and weight throw, were all broken at different events.
 
Track Athlete of the Week
Sarah Berger
Walsh
Senior
Middle Distance
Wadsorth, OH (Wadsworth HS)
 
Berger competed at the Youngstown State Icebreaker and blew the competition away in the 5K run, setting a new school and a new conference record with her time of 16:53.34.
 
She won the event by over a minute and set the new conference mark by over 40 seconds. This comes after Berger’s successful cross country season where she was named USTFCCCA Midwest Region Athlete of the Year en route to a runner-up finish at the NCAA Division II Championships.
 
Berger was also the Great Midwest Women’s Cross Country Runner of the Year for the Cavaliers.
 
Her time was also a provisional standard for nationals and is currently the third fastest in all of Division II and just under 18 seconds away from an automatic qualifying time.
 
Field Athlete of the Week
Rachael Tolsma
Hillsdale
Senior
Weight Throw
Hamilton, MI (Hamilton HS)
 
Tolsma also had an outstanding performance this weekend for the 10th-ranked Chargers, this time at the SVSU Holiday Open and Multis in Saginaw.
 
Her weight throw distance of 17.21 meters (56’ 46’’) also set a new conference record while also provisionally qualifying for nationals. She won the event by almost an entire half meter and set the new conference best by just over a tenth of a meter.
 
Tolsma comes over to the conference after finishing 17th at the NCAA DII Indoor Track & Field Championships last season as a junior and will look to improve upon that this season as her throw is currently good enough for 11th in the nation.