USTFCCCA Release
 
NEW ORLEANS, LA. – West Texas A&M swept national honors on Tuesday morning as sophomore Benjamin Azamati and senior Zada Swoopes were named the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) NCAA Division II National Athletes of the Week.  The duo earned the national accolades for the second time in their careers and first this season following their record-breaking performances at the New Mexico Collegiate Classic this past weekend.
 
Azamati, a Ghana product, made his season debut with a personal-best 6.55 in the 60-meter to break his own school and Lone Star Conference record.  His provisional mark in the preliminaries was the second fastest time in NCAA Division II history.  
 
In the finals, the sophomore made history again as he ran 6.54 to win the event and tie the NCAA DII record set by North Carolina Central's Jason Smoots in 2003.  Azamati was the only DII athlete in the final, defeating LSU's Da'Marcus Fleming by 0.06 seconds.  He now has the fastest time in DII and is the fourth fastest among the collegiate level this year. 
 
Swoopes continues to prove why she is one of the best throwers in Division II as she picked up two victories last weekend with two Top 5 provisional marks.  The reigning shot put champion won the event in Albuquerque with a season-best mark 56-4.75 (17.19m) on her fifth attempt of the day.  Her toss was the program's second-best mark for her now to hold all Top 10 marks in school history as she ranks seventh among all collegians this season. 
 
The Whitewright, Texas native also shattered her own school record after she won the weight throw with a 63-4.0 (19.30m) toss, defeating her previous record set last week by nearly five feet (17.93m).  Swoopes now leads Division II in the shot put and ranks seventh in the weight throw.  
 
WT returns to action this weekend for the Texas Tech Shootout and GVSU Big Meet on Feb. 11-12.