DALLAS – UTEP track and field’s Roosa Yloenen, who didn’t compete in almost over a year after the 2020 season was canceled due to COVID-19, has upped her performance during the 2021 season.
“It’s nice to see conference recognize Roosa for her efforts. She had some fairly challenging obstacles to overcome last year,” UTEP Head Coach Mika Laaksonen said.
“Last weekend’s performance was quite a confidence builder for her personally. As a coach, you feel fortunate to have student-athletes like Roosa around who take great care of their academic and athletic responsibilities.”
The javelin thrower was named the Conference USA Track and Field Female Field Athlete of the Week by league officials on Wednesday after turning in a personal-best mark this past weekend.
Yloenen won her third javelin event of the season after firing off a mark of 53.89m (176-10) at the Desert Heat Classic on May 1. She surpassed her previous hurl of 53.37m (175-1) on March 19.
Yloenen’s mark currently ranks 12th nationally, and second in C-USA.
The sophomore from Hankasalmi, Finland, earned her first career athlete of the week honors. Yloenen has won six career javelin events, including the 2019 C-USA Championships on May 12, 2019 during her freshman season.
Yloenen and the Miners will compete at the 2021 C-USA Track and Field Championships in Murfreesboro, Tenn., at Dean A. Hayes Track Stadium on May 13-16.
