Banquet Photo Gallery

May 12, 2008

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The University of Memphis men's and women's track and field teams held their end of the year banquet tonight to announce this year's award winners. Susan King and Steffen Nerdal were the night's big winners.

Taking home the top honors of the night for the Tigers was senior thrower Susan King and sophomore thrower Steffan Nerdal. They both were named the team's Performers of the Year and the Field MVP. King won the shot put and placed second in the weight throw at C-USA Indoors. She had a career-best throw of 17.13m and went on to finish fourth at NCAA's earning her first All-American honor. She is currently ranked third in the nation in the shot and first in the Mid East region in the shot. Nerdal won the men's weight throw with a mark of 20.94m at C-USA Indoors, while at the same time breaking the school record and the meet record. He was honored with the C-USA Performer of the Meet award for his accomplishments. He is ranked ninth in the nation in the discus. Combined they own five school records.

Winning the Most Improved awards were freshman Aaron Whetstone and senior Ashley Stewart. Stewart ran the fastest time of her career at C-USA Indoors in the 60m hurdles with a time of 8.94. Whetstone is ranked No.2 in C-USA in the triple jump and sixth in the long, while earning two C-USA Indoor Male Athlete of the Week honors.

Senior hurdler Amaechi Oselukwue and sophomore distance runner Tina Sherratt were named Track MVP's. Oselukwue is the reigning 110m hurdle champ and is currently ranked in the Top 10 in both the 110's and 400m hurdles going into conference outdoors. Sherratt is currently ranked fifth in the 1500 meters in conference with a time of 4:32.71 and holds four school records.

Both of the Newcomers of the Years reign from Norway. Charlotte Abrahamsen won the decathlon at C-USA Indoors and earned C-USA High Point Scorer of the Meet and Female Freshman of the Year honors. She went on to compete at NCAA Indoors where she placed eighth in the pentathlon at the championships, garnering All-American honors. With a point total of 4103, she broke her own school record for the second time this year. Knut Syversen he earned his first C-USA Athlete of the Week honor this outdoor season. He placed second in the weight throw and fifth in the shot put at C-USA Indoors, earning all-conference honors in the weight. He currently ranks No. 1 in the conference in the shot with a NCAA regional qualifying mark of 17.18m and sixth in the discus with 49.43m.

Receiving honorable mention nods were Sivan Aballi and Seth Major. Aballi holds down the No. 2 spot in the conference in the shot with a mark of 16.36m and she is sixth in the discus with 48.50m, both of which are NCAA regional qualifying marks. Major placed sixth in the weight throw and third in the shot put, earning all-conference honors at C-USA Indoors. He has two NCAA regional marks in both the shot put and the discus.

All 2007-08 Memphis Track and Field awards were voted upon by the coaching staff.

Most Improved
Aaron Whetstone, male
Ashley Stewart, female

MVP Track
Amaechi Oselukwue, male
Tina Sherratt, female

MVP Field
Steffen Nerdal, male
Susan King, female

Newcomer of the Year
Knut Syversen, male
Charlotte Abrahamsen, female

Honorable Mention
Seth Major, male
Sivan Aballi, female

Performer of the Year
Steffen Nerdal, male
Susan King, female