USTFCCCA Release

NEW ORLEANS, LA – For the second time this season, Colby Community College sophomore Anita Afrifa has earned national recognition by being named the United States Track and Field Cross Country Coaches Association NJCAA Women’s Track Athlete of the Week on Monday, February 10th.

Anita Afrifa (Colby) – USTFCCCA NJCAA Women’s Indoor Track Athlete of the Week
Anita Afrifa returned to Kansas State’s Cliff Rovelto Indoor Track for the Steve Miller Invitational. She not only kept her unbeaten streak intact at the facility, she just missed tying an NJCAA record.

Unlike the Thane Baker Invitational three weeks earlier, the time schedule for the Miller meet had the 200 meters before the 60, so Afrifa ran it fresh for the first time this year. The result was an eye-opening victory in 23.28 – just 0.01 seconds off the 23.27 NJCAA record set in 2002 by Veronica Campbell of Barton (Kan.) CC.

She came back later in the day for a pair of 60-meter races – the prelims (winning her heat in 7.46) and the final (winning in 7.31, which is just 0.01 off her 7.30 from the Baker meet in January). Her 7.30 is also No. 2 on the all-time NJCAA list (behind Campbell’s 7.26 record).

This is the second time this season that Afrifa has been named M-F Athletic National Athlete of the Week.

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.