Colby's Anita Afrifa Named USTFCCCA NJCAA Women's Track Athlete of the Week
NEW ORLEANS, LA – Following her first Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference women’s indoor track athlete of the week honors this season on Tuesday, Colby Community College sophomore Anita Afrifa added national accolades by being named the United States Track and Field Cross Country Coaches Association NJCAA Women’s Track Athlete of the Week.
Anita Afrifa (Colby) – USTFCCCA NJCAA Women’s Indoor Track Athlete of the Week
Fast times were highly anticipated at Kansas State’s Thane Baker Invitational as the 60 meters featured a pair of reigning NJCAA sprint champions.
Keliza Smith of Barton (Kan.) CC set the tone in heat 1, as last year’s NJCAA 60 champ ran a nation-leading 7.42, while Anita Afrifa – last year’s outdoor 100/200 winner – won heat 4 in a PR 7.44.
An hour later in the final, Afrifa won a sizzler as both ran personal-best times – Afrifa at 7.30 to become number two on the all-time NJCAA list, and Smith at 7.33 to move to number eight.
Afrifa capped off the day with another personal record, running 23.72 to win the 200 by over a full second.
This is the first time that a female athlete from Colby has been named USTFCCCA NJCAA National Athlete of the Week during the indoor season. Afrifa was honored in the 2024 outdoor season on April 29.
National Athlete of the Week is an award selected and presented by the USTFCCCA Communications Staff at the beginning of each week to 14 collegiate track athletes, when applicable (male and female for each of the three NCAA divisions, the NAIA and the NJCAA).
Nominations are open to the public. Coaches and sports information directors are encouraged to nominate their student-athletes; as are student-athletes, their families and friends, and fans of their programs. Nominated athletes are noticed before those athletes found through searching TFRRS.
The award seeks to highlight not only the very best times, marks and scores on a week-to-week basis, but also performances that were significant on the national landscape and/or the latest in a series of strong outings. Quality of competition, suspenseful finishes and other factors will also play a role in the decision.