SPARTANBURG, S.C. – UNCG’s Joe Thoma and VMI’s Andrew Granger have been named the Southern Conference men’s outdoor track and field athletes of the week, respectively, while Mercer’s Tara Davis and ETSU’s Tya Blake earned the respective awards on the women’s side, the conference office announced Wednesday.
 
Selections were made by panels of the league’s track and field coaches and included all outdoor competition from March 29 to April 4.
 
UNCG’s Thoma ran at the VertKlasse Meeting in High Point, North Carolina, on Friday and Saturday. The graduate student from Whippany, New Jersey, finished sixth in the field of 122 runners in Friday’s 1,500-meter run, turning in a SoCon-leading time of 3:49.57. The next day, Thoma finished eighth in the 800-meter run with a personal-best time of 1:53.64, which ranks seventh in the SoCon so far this season.
 
Also competing at the VertKlasse Meeting, VMI’s Granger picked up his second SoCon honor in three weeks after turning in a personal-best throw of 57.39 meters to finish ninth in the hammer throw Friday. The junior from Marietta, Georgia, posted two PRs on the day, with his first mark of 56.96 meters supplanting his career-best throw of 55.23m from the first week of the season. Granger’s fourth throw of the day Friday was good for a top-10 finish, leads the SoCon by nearly nine meters and ranks 61st on the NCAA Division I East Outdoor Qualifying List.
 
Mercer’s Davis ran at the UAB Spring Invite on Saturday, winning the 400-meter dash in a personal-best time of 55.08 seconds. The mark posted by the senior from Fayetteville, Georgia, leads the SoCon this season and is the second-best time in the event in program history. Davis’s time also ranks 60th on the NCAA Division I East Outdoor Qualifying List this season.
 
ETSU’s Blake competed at the VertKlasse Meeting on Friday and Saturday. The sophomore from Lynchburg, Virginia, took 33rd in the long jump on Friday with a leap of 4.85 meters. The next day, Blake took 12th in the triple jump with a season-best leap of 11.68 meters, which leads the SoCon.
 
2023 Southern Conference Outdoor Track and Field Athletes of the Week
Men’s track
March 22         Dylan Christopher, UNCG
March 29         Cagan Campbell, Samford
April 5             Joe Thoma, UNCG
 
Men’s field
March 22         Andrew Granger, VMI
March 29         Tripp Marcus, Samford
April 5             Andrew Granger, VMI
 
Women’s track
March 22         Genevieve Schwarz, ETSU
March 29         Lesley Green, Chattanooga
April 5             Tara Davis, Mercer
 
Women’s field
March 22         Erin Long, Samford
March 29         Hannah Daffin, Samford
April 5             Tya Blake, ETSU