TERRE HAUTE, IND. -- Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology student-athletes combined for four Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Player of the Week honors, in results released today by the league.
The Fightin' Engineers swept the two women's track and field athlete of the week awards. Junior Creasy Clauser (Crawfordsville/Southmont) was named HCAC Track Athlete of the Week, with junior Liz Evans (Bicknell/North Knox) winning Field Athlete of the Week honors.
Baseball sophomore Andrew Benitez (Mililani, Hawaii) was named HCAC Hitter of the Week, and senior Sutton Coleman (Lebanon, Va.) earned the Men's Track Athlete of the Week award.
Benitez batted .571 with a team-high .786 slugging average and perfect fielding in 26 attempts at second base to help Rose-Hulman finish 3-1 last week. Benitez finished 8-14 at the plate with three doubles, five runs scored, two RBIs, 12 putouts and 14 assists in 26 chances.
Rose-Hulman improved to 22-9 on the season and stands 13-4 in HCAC play after topping Transylvania in two of three games this weekend.
Clauser set a school record in the 400-meter dash with a time of 58.35 seconds, then helped the 4-x-100 meter relay team place second and the 4-x-400 meter relay team finish third at the 15-team Rose-Hulman Twilight Meet.
Her efforts currently rank No. 1 in the HCAC in the 400-meter dash. Clauser was also named HCAC Indoor Track Athlete of the Year for her efforts during the league's indoor meet in February.
Coleman swept the 110- and 400-meter hurdles titles at the 15-team Rose-Hulman Twilight Meet. Coleman set a Cook Stadium record with a time of 14.57 in the 110 hurdles, then won the 400 hurdles with a mark of 53.06. He also anchored the winning 4-x-400 relay team to a time of 3:19.95.
Currently, Coleman ranks No. 6 nationally in the 400-meter hurdles and in the 110-meter high hurdles. He is also part of the top ranked 4-x-400 meter relay team. The five-time All-American was also named HCAC Track Athlete of the Year during the indoor season.
Evans won the women's high jump with a nationally ranked leap of 5' 9 1/4" that ranks among the national leaders this spring. Evans topped a field of 15 vaulters in the 15-team event.
Evans leads the HCAC in the high jump entering this weekend's league meet.
The baseball team hosts Anderson University on Tuesday at 6 p.m. The HCAC Track and Field Championships are set for 3 p.m. on Friday and 10 a.m. on Saturday.