(Sioux City, Iowa) – The Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) and Hauff Mid-America Sports are proud to announce the following men’s indoor track & field athletes-of-the-week for events held Feb. 3-9, 2020. Hauff Mid-America Sports is the presenting sponsor of the 2019-2020 GPAC Players-of-the-Week and Players and Coaches-of-the-Year awards program.
Field Events – James Gilbert Jr., Northwestern College
James Gilbert Jr. of Northwestern is this week’s field athlete-of-the-week. Gilbert, a freshman from Orlando, Florida, set a school record for the second consecutive week in winning the long jump with a leap of 7.24m (23ft-9in), 8 inches farther than the second-place finisher from NCAA Division I. Gilbert met the auto mark and has the third best jump in the NAIA, tops in the GPAC.
Track Events – Jacob VanderPlaats, Dordt University
Jacob VanderPlaats of Dordt University is this week’s track athlete-of-the-week. VanderPlaats, a junior from Sioux Center, Iowa, set the Defender school record in the 3,000m by just over 9.5 seconds at the Dakota Realty Alumni Meet, on his way to a second-place finish in a field of 42 NAIA and NCAA Div. I runners. His time of 8:32.40 is the best time in the GPAC this season by over 17 seconds and positions him third nationally. This is the third consecutive week Jacob has exceeded the Automatic Qualifying mark in a different event. He currently holds the top marks in the GPAC, and is listed in the top seven of the NAIA, in all three of those events.
