In some weeks, it is extremely difficult of a decision to decide who will win the Subway Athlete of the Week honor for New Mexico Highlands. Sometimes, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) decides that honor for you.
The Las Vegas, New Mexico, area Subway® restaurants and Manger Regina Denardo is pleased to announce that track and field senior Salcia Slack is named the Subway Eat Fresh Student-Athlete of the Week on Monday (April 13). This is the second-straight week Slack has claimed this honor.
Slack blasted her own NCAA Division II record in the heptathlon (set last season) with 6,141 points this past weekend at the Jim Click Combined Events in Arizona, which moved her up to THIRD IN THE WORLD in the event. She easily leads Division II and is second to only Georgia's Quintunya Chapman (by only five points) in the NCAA.
She began Thursday (April 9) fast by finishing with a time of 13.68 in the hurdles to move up to third in NCAA Division II in the event. After a 1.62 mark in the high jump, she torched the field in the shot put with a distance of 14.99 meters to move up to fifth in the nation and provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championships in the event. She finished day one with a time of 23.92 in the 200 to move into fifth in the nation in the event. Her day one total of 3,631 broke the Division II record broke the heptathlon day one record in the heptathlon.
However, she still trailed Akela Jones of Kansas State off 100 points, a gap that widened to 185 after the first event Friday (April 10). Slack recorded a mark of 6.06 meters in the long jump to provisionally qualify for the NCAA Championships and move up to fourth in the nation. However, Jones lept for 6.33 meters.
Where Slack made her move was the javelin, easily besting the  whole field and climbing within eight points of the lead with a mark of 43.77 meters. She finished her weekend by winning the 800 by more than seven seconds with a time of 2:14.34 to win the heptathlon by more than 92 points.
New for the 2014-2015 school year, a Subway® Student-Athlete of the Week will be chosen every week for the athletic year. Every student-athlete chosen for the weekly award will be eligible to win the Subway Eat Fresh® Student-Athlete of the Year award following the 2014-2015 academic year. While the weekly award will be based on athletic prowess, the yearly award will be bestowed upon an athlete based on success not only on the playing field, but also in the classroom and community involvement.