Terek Named Regional Track Athlete Of The Year
5/24/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track and Field
May 24, 2002
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State's Paul Terek (Livonia, Mich.) is the Mondo/United States Track Coaches Association selection as Great Lakes Regional Men's Track and Field Athlete of the Year, the organization announced today.
College coaches select men's and women's athletes and coaches of the year in nine regions. Each winner is eligble for national honors, which will be announced following the conclusion of the NCAA Championships in Baton Rouge, La., next week.
Terek, who earlier this week was named Big Ten Men's Track and Field Athlete of the Year and Athlete of the Championship for the second straight season, was officially added to the list of competitors in the pole vault at the NCAA Championships. The MSU senior set the school record in the pole vault with a leap of 18-0 1/2 - the fifth-best mark in the NCAA this season - at the Len Paddock Invitational in Ann Arbor, Mich., May 11. He also repeated as the conference pole vault champion with a successful leap of 17-10 1/4 at last weekend's Big Ten Championships in Madison, Wis.
An automatic qualifier for the national meet in the decathlon, Terek's score of 7,829 points in that event at last weekend's conference meet broke the Big Ten record he set at the previous year's championships. He also owns the MSU record in the decathlon, winning first-place honors at the Mount SAC Relays in April with 7,926 points, the third-best total in the NCAA this year.