Colorado State’s track and field and basketball teams earned several awards for their hard work in the 2019-20 season.
The Rams track and field team accumulated 30 All-Mountain West awards, and head coach Brian Bedard earned the MW Men’s Coach of the Year award for the second year in a row. Twenty-four track and field team members were responsible for bringing in the 30 awards.
CSU’s track and field team has been successful in the last two years, with the men’s team bringing home the MW Indoor Track and Field Championship for the second straight year. Out of the 13 men who won awards, nine were first-time award winners. Of those men, five were freshmen. On the women’s team, 11 were awarded medals, and among those, six were first-time All-MW award winners.
Senior Eric Hamer was responsible for two of the Rams’ 30 awards. Hamer won the 5,000-meter race and came in second for the 3,000-meter race. Additionally, Hamer was also awarded the Mountain West Men’s Indoor Student-Athlete of the Year on his birthday.
As a senior, Hamer has tallied up a school record, an individual conference championship, a team conference championship and qualification for the NCAA Championships. Unfortunately, the NCAA Championships were later canceled for safety precautions because of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Hamer Named Mountain West Men’s Indoor Student-Athlete of the Year
🎁🏆 for Eric on his Birthday ❗
📝 https://t.co/DQbzhdhzkF#IndoorRams #CSURams pic.twitter.com/n6L2Ga6eLI
— Colorado State T&F/XC (@CSUTrackFieldXC) March 23, 2020
Tom Willems, a freshman from Australia, also picked up two awards for the Rams on top of setting the third best time in CSU history for the 400-meter.
In addition to the men’s team, the women’s team also had their share of victory, earning half of the total awards. Lauren Gale, Yolonda Johnson, Jessica Ozoude and Tarynn Sieg all accumulated two medals each. Their medals were in the 4×400-meter relay, the 200-meter race, the 400-meter race, the women’s distance medley relay, the women’s weight throw and the women’s shot put.
However, the CSU track and field team was not the only team to have success with winning awards. Men’s basketball star Nico Carvacho was awarded the National Association of Basketball Coaches All-District First Team.
Carvacho had an impressive run at CSU, landing himself among the conference leaders. He led the Mountain West conference in rebounds and double-doubles. He managed to become one of two players to lead the league in rebounds twice. Carvacho racked up 1,414 points and 1,295 rebounds throughout his career. By doing this, he has become the first player in the history of the Mountain West Conference to have both 1,000 points and rebounds.
Another honor for The Big 🌶️ today from the @NABC1927 , being named First Team All-District! Congratulations!
📝 https://t.co/GA00uXfc7c#TeamTogether | #ProudToBe pic.twitter.com/FatVIHw4FV
— Colorado State Men’s Basketball (@CSUMBasketball) March 23, 2020
Additionally, Carvacho has appeared in 132 games, more than any other player in the history of CSU basketball. He has impressively been ranked 33rd in NCAA history for his rebounds.
The Rams will keep the success rolling into the 2021 season stronger than ever.
Savvy Rafkin can be reached at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter @SavvyCollegian.
