Track & Field | 3/23/2009 1:06:39 PM

MONMOUTH, Ore. - Zeb Udell of the Western Oregon University track and field team was named the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Men's Athlete of the Week for the week of Mar. 16-22.

Udell, a senior from Dallas, Ore. (Central High School), won the pole vault at the Oregon Preview with a school-record and an NCAA Division II provisional qualifying mark of 16-6 (5.03m). He topped his own previous school-record by two inches.

His vault, which is just .75 inches short of the automatic qualifying standard (16-6.75/5.05m), is the second-best in GNAC history, trailing only a 16-8.75 by Justin Miller of Humboldt State in 2002. By clearing 16-6, Udell moved into eighth place in the pole vault this season in NCAA Division II.

The Western Oregon track and field team will be off from competition for the week of Mar. 23-29. It will return to action Apr. 4 at the Willamette Invitational in Salem.