COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Wyoming senior steeplechase standout Audra DeStefano has been named the Mountain West Women’s Outdoor Track Athlete of the Week, the conference office announced Tuesday. The reigning MW champion in the 3,000-meter steeplechase started her final outdoor campaign with a bang at Saturday’s Jerry Quiller Classic in Boulder, Colo., winning the steeplechase with an altitude-adjusted time of 10 minutes, 34.38 seconds.
DeStefano was victorious by nearly 45 seconds in Boulder as she began her chase for a second consecutive conference title in the event. Her adjusted time currently leads the conference by a wide margin and ranks second in the NCAA behind BYU’s Courtney Wayment. DeStefano leads Illinois’ Valerie Bobart, the nation’s third-ranked athlete in the event, by nearly 10 seconds.
The weekly accolade comes as the third of DeStefano’s illustrious outdoor track & field career. She has now collected a weekly honor from the conference in each of the last three outdoor seasons and has earned three of the Cowgirls’ last five weekly outdoor honors from the Mountain West. In 2016, McKenzie Brogan joined DeStefano as the only Cowgirls to receive a Women’s Outdoor Track Athlete of the Week award from the conference.
DeStefano, a native of Gillette, Wyo. and a six-time all-conference honoree, holds the University of Wyoming record for the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 10:07.35 that earned her a conference championship in the event in 2016. It was the third-fastest time in MW championship meet history and gave the Cowgirls their first title in the event since Emily Higgins took top honors in 2009.
The University of Wyoming track & field team continues its outdoor campaign with a trip to Fort Collins, Colo., for the Fum McGraw Quadrangular on Saturday, March 25.
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