June 15, 2007

Irving, Texas - Rice freshman Shakera Reece sweeps C-USA's inaugural indoor and outdoor female Newcomer of the Year honors, while Houston's Alex Bentley picks up the male newcomer of the year outdoor award on Friday, following a vote of the league's head coaches.

Reece, a native of St. Lucy, Barbados, was the fastest freshman in the NCAA in the 100-meter dash going into the national championships. She established her 100m school-record 11.34 clocking at the CARIFTA Under-20 championships in the Turks & Caicos earlier this season. She also had a team-best 23.50 mark in the 200m at the same meet. Reece took bronze in the 100m (11.63) and finished fourth in the 200m (23.97) at the C-USA Outdoor Championships in Houston. The rookie also ran the second leg on the Owls' 4x100m relay that qualified for the NCAA Regionals.

2007 C-USA OUTDOOR TRACK & FIELD NEWCOMERS OF THE YEAR

Bentley, a native of Tomball, Texas, was the C-USA outdoor champion in the pole vault with a career best clearance of 5.06m (16-07.25"), which qualified him for regionals. Other top pole vault performances include winning the Texas Invitational, placing second at the LSU Invitational and fourth in the "A" section at the Cal Collegiate Challenge. He also cleared 5.05m (16-06.75") at the Tom Tellez Invitational.

C-USA male and female outdoor Athletes of the Year will be announced Monday.