INDIANAPOLIS – Hillsdale and Cedarville freshmen capitalized on some provisional standards met in respective meets to receive Great Midwest Athletic Conference Women’s Outdoor Track & Field Athletes of the Week honors on Tuesday.
 
Track Athlete of the Week
Shura Ermakov
Hillsdale
Sprints/Hurdles
Freshman
Berea, OH (Berea-Midpark HS)
 
Ermakov was a first-year standout during the indoor season, sweeping meet and season awards for conference a freshman, and has carried her success over to the outdoor platform as the Chargers competed at the Western Kentucky Hilltopper Relays.
 
She was second in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:01.87 and contributed 3:47.08 in the 4x400 relay, which also set a new conference record.
 
Ermakov helped Hillsdale to a runner-up finish at the NCAA Championships just a few weeks ago in the same event.
 
Hillsdale won the event between Dakota Stamm, Zalonya Eby and national indoor champion Kajsa Johansson. They are currently ranked second in Division II for the fastest times and only four schools have clocked provisional times so far.
 
Field Athlete of the Week
Haleigh Eckert
Cedarville
Pole Vault
Freshman
Mason, OH (Mason HS)
 
Eckert was fourth at the conference indoor championships with multiple All-American from the league and was also coming off of an individual event win at the Yellow Jacket Outdoor Invitational.
 
The freshman was out in High Point, N.C., for the High Point Vertklasse Meeting as she cleared 3.70m (12’ 1.5”) for a sixth-place finish.
 
It represented a career-best height clearance as she has cleared 3.66m or better in her last four consecutive events.
 
Eckert also joined a lengthy list of provisional qualifiers coming out of Division II at this point in the outdoor season.