Ridenhour Earns National Honors

Webster University sophomore Jacob Ridenhour (Jerseyville, Ill./Jerseyville) made history on Tuesday as the sprinter became the first ever Gorlork track athlete to earn a United States Track and Field & Cross County Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Division III National Athlete of the Week honor.

Ridenhour earns this week's Division III National Athlete of the Week accolade from the USTFCCCA after setting school records and running nation-leading times in both the 100 and 200-meter dashes as this past weekend's Rhodes College Invitational in Memphis, Tenn. Along with claiming this week's National Athlete of the Week honor from the USTFCCCA, Ridenhour was also named this week's St. Louis Intercollegiate Men's Track Athlete of the Week.

At the Rhodes Invitational, Ridenhour, who qualified for NCAA Division III Indoor Nationals in the 60-meter dash, opened his outdoor campaign by running a time 10.67 in the 100-meter dash to finish third overall and first among Division III competitors and then running a time of 21.60 to finish fourth overall and first among D-III competitors in the 200-meter dash. Both of those times are currently tops in NCAA Division III.

Along with being the top times currently in Division III, those times were also new school records and personal bests for Ridenhour, who now holds both the indoor and outdoor record for the 200-meter dash and also both the 60-meter (indoor) and 100-meter (outdoor) dashes.

In the 100-meter dash, Ridenhour bettered the old mark of 10.76 set at the 2017 Rhodes Invitational by senior Caleb Clemons (Florissant, Mo./McCluer North), while his 200-meter dash time bettered the old time of 22.09 set by Haile Wilson at St. Louis University in 2015.

Ridenhour also had a hand in breaking a school record in the 4-x-100 meter relay as Webster's relay time posted a time 42.20 to finish second among 11 teams. Ridenhour ran the second of four legs in the relay and was joined on the team by Clemons, senior Brandyn Robinson (St. Louis, Mo./North County) and sophomore Carson Gross (Arnold, Mo./Fox). The relay team's time of 42.20 bettered the old school mark of 42.52, which was set at last year's SLIAC Outdoor Championships and the time is currently ranked seventh in Division III.

With his National Athlete of the Week honor, Ridenhour becomes the first athlete from Webster to earn a National Athlete of the Week during the outdoor track season. 

STORY COURTESY OF WEBSTER UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION