New Jersey City University senior ANDREA HERBERT (Paterson, NJ/Passaic County Tech) is the NJCU Women's Athlete of the Week after she put an exclamation mark on a brilliant track and field career in the New Jersey Athletic Conference by breaking league records in both the triple jump and 200-meter dash, en route to being voted the NJAC’s Most Outstanding Female Athlete of the Year, Saturday at the 2006 NJAC Outdoor Track and Field Championship, in Glassboro, NJ.
Herbert is the first NJCU women’s athlete in school history to claim the NJAC’s Outdoor Female Athlete of the Year honor, an award equivalent to NJAC Player of the Year in team sports. Herbert won the triple jump by nearly four feet, leaping a school record 12.09 meters (39-8.00) to obliterate the 20-year old conference record in the event of 11.21 meters, set by Montclair State University’s Eileen O’Connor in 1986.
Herbert’s distance, which occurred on her final attempt in the preliminary round after fouling on her first two tries, easily eclipsed the NCAA automatic qualifying mark of 12.00 meters, and eclipsed her own school record of 12.02 (39-5.25) set on April 16, 2005.
Herbert also broke the NJAC record in the 200-meter dash when she timed 24.56 to win by more than a quarter of a second. She shattered the conference record of 24.76 set by former teammate and five-time national champion Diana Lawson in 2002. She easily eclipsed the NCAA provisional standard of 25.36 and nearly reached the automatic mark (24.50).
Herbert won the preliminary race of the 100-meter dash in 12.23 seconds, eclipsing the NCAA provisional standard of 12.34. She placed third in the finals in 12.38. Herbert also led off the 4x100-meter relay which placed second in 48.54 seconds, better than the NCAA provisional standard of 48.88.
