WICHITA, Kan. – For the second straight week, the Friends University Falcons have made a clean sweep of the KCAC Women's Indoor Track & Field honors, with Tiyna Ridge again capturing the Track Athlete of the Week award and Aneesa Sheppard selected as the Women's Field Athlete of the Week, the conference office announced today (Jan. 19).  All KCAC Player of the Week awards are sponsored by Athletic Solutions. 

In winning her second straight KCAC weekly award, Ridge hit an NAIA A Standard for the third consecutive meet, this time recording a PR in the Women's 60 Meter run with a mark of 7.44 that improves upon her own school and KCAC all-time record. Ridge's time is also second best in the NAIA this season.

"Tiyna continues to grow into herself and it is showing through every practice and competition," said Friends track & field head coach Henry Brun. "She keeps chipping away on her record and it is exciting to see how she will perform as we get into more competitive environments, leading to the NAIA meet."

Sheppard hit her second NAIA national standard of the season, this time nailing the NAIA B Standard in winning the Triple Jump at this past Friday's (Jan. 16) Washburn Rust Buster meet. Sheppard currently holds the top mark in the KCAC this season, hitting that result (12.08m) at the same venue at the Washburn Alumni Invite back on Dec. 6.

"Aneesa is ready to take that next step in her athletic career here at Friends," said Brun. "Her debut in December was an indicator that she wants to set the standard in the KCAC as the premier jumper. It has been really enjoyable in training sessions to see certain aspects of her jumps connecting and then translating them to the meets early on this season. As we ramp up for KCACs and NAIAs, I think she will have something special to showcase."

Ridge, Sheppard and the Falcons are in action again next Saturday (Jan. 24) at the NAIA/JUCO Challenge on the campus of Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kan.