BOONE, N.C. –– Appalachian State University track and field and head coach John Weaver announced their 2016-17 team Most Valuable Players on Tuesday.
The Mountaineers' Tristin Van Ord and Elliott Graves both earned their respective team MVP award for their performances over the course of the outdoor season. Both Van Ord and Graves were the Mountaineers' top overall scorers at the 2017 Sun Belt Conference Outdoor Championships.
Van Ord, most recently, competed in the 2017 NCAA East Region Preliminaries and finished 36th in the 10,000-meter run with a time of 35:33.28 and took 38th in the 5,000-meters with a time of 17:14.60.
She claimed the silver medal in the 10,000-meter race at the Sun Belt Championships with a time of 36:41.96. In the 5,000-meter race, Van Ord picked up her third-consecutive title with a time of 16:55.29.
During the season, Van Ord topped her own program record in the 10,000-meters with a time of 34:04.64 at the Raleigh Relays. She also earned Sun Belt Track Athlete of the Week during the season.
Graves earned 2017 Sun Belt Conference Most Outstanding Performing Freshman at the championship meet this season. Graves claimed the gold medal in the 400-meter hurdles and shaved .19 seconds off his previous personal-best time in the event. His time last weekend of 51.29 seconds is good for fourth all-time in program history.
Earlier in the season, Graves set his personal-best in the 400-meter hurdles at the Duke Invitational with a time of 51.48 and placing second.
At the 2017 NCAA East Region Preliminaries, Graves took seventh in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 54.37, but did not advance to the next round. Most recently, Graves competed at the NCAA Junior Nationals meet and finished sixth in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 14.14, while placing seventh in the 400-meter-hurdles with a time of 52.50.
