Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Macon, Ga. -- A pair of great performances by ETSU's James Rainer and Gardner-Webb's Jake Didion earned them Atlantic Sun Co-Athlete of the Week honors today by the conference office.

Rainer earns his second consecutive weekly award after winning the 100-meter dash at the Western Carolina Invitational, clocking a time of 10.40. With that time, the Alcoa, Tenn. native bested the field by .14 of a second and broke the track record at WCU. He also qualified for the NCAA Mid-East Regionals, bettering the regional standard by tenth of a second.

He is ranked fourth in the Mid-East Region 100-meter dash standings and 10th in the NCAA rankings.

Rainer is a senior, majoring in education. This marks his third A-Sun Athlete of the Week honor. He received the award once during the indoor track season.

Didion will join Rainer at the NCAA Regionals as he solidified his spot with a 24-foot, three inch long jump, matching his own school record at the Winthrop Invitational on Saturday. The Garrett, Ind. native's effort matched his previous school-record leap to the centimeter (7.39m), which gives him two-straight seasons at the NCAA East Regionals.

The sophomore is ranked eighth in the region and 22nd nationally.

Last Saturday was Didion's second meet of the season, as he is also a forward on the men's basketball team. This is second weekly honor for Gardner-Webb.

The 2006 Atlantic Sun Outdoor Track and Field Championships will be held April 14-15 at the National Training Center in Clermont, Fla.

The Atlantic Sun Athlete of the Week is announced every Wednesday during the 2006 outdoor track season.

The 11-member league headquartered in Macon, Ga., consists of Belmont, Campbell, ETSU, Florida Atlantic, Gardner-Webb, Jacksonville, Kennesaw State, Lipscomb, Mercer, North Florida and Stetson.