DENVER – University of Hawai'i's Amber Kaufman was named the Verizon Wireless Western Athletic Conference Women's Indoor Track and Field Athlete of the Week, for the week of January 11-17, after her performance at the UW Preview over the weekend.

 

Kaufman, a senior from San Jose, Calif. (Branham HS), won the high jump competition with an NCAA Automatic Qualifying standard of 6-1.5 (1.87m). The height surpassed the NCAA Automatic Qualifying mark of 6-0.75 (1.85m) and secures her an opportunity to compete in the NCAA Indoor Championship for the second straight year.

 

For Kaufman, the award marks her fourth career WAC Athlete of the Week after receiving the honor three times last season.

 

Louisiana Tech's Antoinette Cobb received the WAC's track Athlete of the Week award. Cobb, a senior from Weyanoke, La. (Barton County CC), ran an NCAA Provisional Qualifying time of 8.39 seconds in the 60m hurdles at the Texas A&M Invitational to win her heat and advance to the finals. Cobb's preliminary time was the third-fastest time of the prelims and is the fastest time of any WAC hurdler throughout the young season. Cobb came back in the finals and finished fourth overall. The only hurdlers to beat her were a group of three All-Big 12 and All-American athletes.

 

This weekend, Kaufman and the Rainbow Wahine hosts the Sunset Opener, the first of 10 all-comer meets the team will host during the indoor and outdoor seasons.