By: Erin Madden

BEREA, Ohio - Baldwin Wallace University senior All-Ohio Athletic Conference distance runner Hastings Marek (Pataskala/Watkins Memorial) has been named the OAC Women's Track Athlete of the Week for the first time in her career. 

Marek led the way for the Yellow Jackets on the track, helping the team to a second-place finish overall at the Dr. William Taraschke Team Challenge. She first won the 1-mile run in a career-best time of 5:03.59 and then followed that performance up with another win, this time in the 800-meter run in 2:17.09. Marek's adjusted 1-mile time tops all of NCAA Division III while her adjusted 800 time comes in second nationally. The senior then made it a clean sweep on the afternoon by helping the 4x400-meter relay team to a BW season-best time of 4:15.13, which is good for 24th in the country. 

For her indoor career, Marek is an All-Ohio performer in the 5,000-meter run and an All-OAC performer in the distance medley relay. 

BW will next compete on Sunday, February 14, in the OAC Elite Meet, which will be split between two locations. Marek, the rest of the distance runners and the throwers will compete at Otterbein University inside the Clements Recreation Center while the sprinters and jumpers will compete at Capital University inside the Capital Center Field House.