NEW ORLEANS, La. -- Senior
Ryan Hastings (Mathews, N.C./Porter Ridge) has been named Sun Belt Men's Track Athlete of the Week.
At the Thundering Herd Invitational over the weekend, Hastings won the 800-meter run in a PR time of 1:50.48. His time also set a facility record, meet record and ranks as the second fastest 800-meter run time in school history. The mark currently sits 34th in the nation and is the top time in the Sun Belt.
In addition, Hastings teamed with junior
Brandon Smith (Fayetteville, N.C./Douglas Byrd), sophomore
Jabari Johnson (Yokosuka, Japan/Nile C. Kinnick) and freshman
De'Shawn Ballard (Wilmington, N.C./Laney) to break the school record in the 400-meter relay in 3:14.30. The time bettered the old mark of 3:14.89 set in 2014.
On the season, he has ran in four individual races, winning each of them. Hastings also won the 800-meter run at the ETSU Invitational (1:53.21) and the Mountaineer Indoor Meet (1:53.97), while also crossing first in the 400-meter dash at the Appalachian Open in a personal record time of 48.96 seconds.
This marks the second straight week the Black and Gold have captured a Sun Belt Player of the Week award, with
Jordan Johnson (Winston-Salem, N.C./East Forsyth) capturing the Sun Belt Field Athlete of the Week last week.
The Mountaineers, who have won all three scored meets this season, will compete again at the Buccaneer Track & Field Invitational, hosted by East Tennessee State on Friday and Saturday.
