ORU's Whitt, SUU's Levins and USD's Buell Named May/June Athletes of the Month
ELMHURST, Ill. - The Summit League selected Oral Roberts track
and field athlete Jack Whitt (Norman, Okla.) and
Southern Utah track and field athlete Cameron
Levins (Black Creek, British Columbia) as the Male
Athletes of the Month and South Dakota track and field athlete
Bethany Buell (St. Louis, Mo.) as the Female
Athlete of the Month for May/June.
Whitt collects his third career Male Athlete of the Month award
after winning the 2012 NCAA pole vault title and earning his
second-straight first team All-America honor and Summit League
Outdoor Field Athlete of the Year award. The junior won the
national title with a school-record height of 18’6.5”
(5.65m), four inches higher than the second place competitor.
Whitt won his third consecutive league pole vault title at the
league championship meet.
Levins garners his second career Athlete of the Month honor after
collecting two national championships and first team All-American
(5,000 meters, 10,000 meters) honors at the 2012 NCAA Outdoor Track
& Field Championships. He also captured his second-straight
Summit League Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year honor earlier this
month. During the NCAA meet, Levins became the first Summit
League student-athlete to win two national titles at one
championship. The senior won the 5,000 meters in 13:40.05 and
the 10,000 meters in a stadium-record time of 28:07.14. The
lone Southern Utah competitor earned his team a league-best finish
in a tie for 11th place. He became SUU’s first national
champion, the first athlete to win the 5k/10k double since 2009 and
the third two-time national champion in league history. He
was named the USTFCCCA Men’s Mountain Region Outdoor Track
Athlete of the Year and is a semifinalist for the Bowerman
Award. The British Columbia native was a three-time champion
(1,500 meters, 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters) at The Summit League
Outdoor Track and Field Championships and the Track Championship
MVP. Levins finished the season ranked first in the nation in
the 5,000 and 10,000 meters and was undefeated on the season in
both events.
Buell earns her first career Female Athlete of the Month honor
after being named the Outdoor Field Athlete of the Year and
capturing first team All-America honors. She also recorded a Summit
League best third-place finish in the pole vault at the NCAA
Championships. Her third-place finish ties for the
second-best all-time finish by a female student-athlete in any
event at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. The St. Louis, Mo.,
native cleared a school record height of 14’5.25”
(4.40m) and became the first Coyote to place in the top three at
the Division I national meet. Buell won the league pole vault
title with a league-record height of 14’0.5” (4.28m) at
the outdoor championships.
Also nominated for the Men’s Athlete of the Month:
Carter DeBoe, IPFW, baseball; Tim Colwell, North Dakota State,
baseball; Tim Ryan, Oakland, baseball; Jeff Mettler, South Dakota,
track & field; Jared Vlastuin, South Dakota State, track &
field; Jamario Taylor, Western Illinois, track &
field.
Also nominated for the Women’s Athlete of the Month:
Miranda Kramer, IPFW, softball; Amy Anderson, North Dakota State,
golf; Micah Jones, Oakland, track & field; Camila Pirelli, Oral
Roberts, track & field; Kayla Kovar, Southern Utah, track &
field.
