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Carlstrom, O’Brien Named Patriot League Track Athletes of the Week
AU sweeps honors for third time this season

February 19, 2003

Keira Carlstrom earned her second Patriot League Runner of the Week award of the season.	Sean O'Brien was named Patriot League Runner of the Week for the fourth time this year.

WASHINGTON — American University’s track and field teams captured both Patriot League Athlete of the Week awards in the final week before the Patriot League Championships. Senior Sean O’Brien (Tewksbury, Mass./Winnisquam Regional) and freshman Keira Carlstrom (Oakton, Va./Oakton) earned the honors after outstanding performances last weekend.

O’Brien was named Men’s Track Athlete of the Week honors for the fourth time this season. He has earned the honor every time he has raced this season. O’Brien anchored the men’s distance medley relay (DMR) to a school-record and NCAA provisional qualifying time of 9-minutes, 40.69 seconds at the Armory Collegiate Invitaitonal in New York. The squad is currently 11th in the country. O’Brien anchored the team with a 4:01 mile as AU won the race over squads from Princeton, Georgetown, Texas, LSU and LaSalle.

Carlstrom earned her second Women’s Track Athlete of the Week award of her career. Running 4:57.08 for the mile, Carlstrom set a new AU school record by over two seconds while winning the race over Georgetown’s Emily Reaman by almost two seconds. While owning the school record in the mile, Carlstrom is also second all-time in the 1000-meters and 3000m. Her time in the mile is the fastest in the Patriot League this season.

The Eagles take to the track this weekend at Colgate University in Hamilton, N.Y. for the Patriot League Indoor Track and Field Championships. The meet begins Sat. Feb. 22 at 2:30 p.m.

American University, which fields a 19-sport NCAA Division I athletics program featuring 10 women’s sports and nine for men, is in its second year of membership in the Patriot League. Since joining the Patriot League, the University has captured league championships in men’s cross country, women’s cross country, men’s soccer, women’s soccer, men’s tennis, women’s tennis and women’s volleyball, and regular-season titles in men’s basketball and women’s lacrosse.

American became a full member of the Patriot League on July 1, 2001. Chartered by an Act of Congress in 1893, the University features students from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and more than 160 nations worldwide.