WAC Outdoor Track and Field Athletes of the Year Announced

DENVER – The Western Athletic Conference named its 2022 WAC Outdoor Track and Field Athletes of the Year following a vote by the conference head coaches. Sam Houston’s Clayton Fritsch and Abilene Christian’s Annina Brandenburg earned the honors on the men’s and women’s side, respectively.

Fritsch, a senior from Sealy, Texas, earned the WAC Outdoor Track and Field Men’s Athlete of the Year honors after a setting a nation-leading mark in pole vault. The pole vaulter set a personal record with mark of 5.80m (19′ 0.25″) when he won the USATF Golden Games at the Mt. SAC Relays, April. His mark at the event was a personal record height that was the best in the world, at the time. He won the pole vault at the 2022 WAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships with a mark of 5.66m (18′ 6.75″). With his mark, Fritsch is granted the top-seed in the 2022 NCAA Division I Men’s Outdoor Track and Field Championships West Preliminaries.

Brandenburg, a graduate student from Dusseldorf, Germany, earned the women’s honors after being named the Outstanding Field Performer and High Point Scorer at the 2022 WAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships. She won the shot put (16.89m/55′ 5″) and the discus throw (54.55m/16′ 89″) and placed second in javelin throw (48.70m/159′ 9″) at the championships. Her discus throw personal record that she set at the Mt. SAC Relays is currently seventh in the country. Brandenburg will be competing in shot put, javelin throw and is seeded sixth in the discus throw at the 2022 NCAA Division I Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Championships West Preliminaries.