BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – Eastern Kentucky University junior Samuel Abascal has been named the Ohio Valley Conference Male Track Athlete of the Week following his exceptional steeplechase performance at the Stanford Invitational on Friday.
 
Abascal made his outdoor debut a memorable one, crushing a six-second personal-best of 8:42.5 in his signature event. That time is the fastest in the OVC by 17 seconds, and it ranks No. 2 in the NCAA East Region and No. 5 in the country.
 
It also moves Abascal to No. 5 on EKU's stout all-time steeplechase list.
 
Abascal, a native of Sancibrian, Cantabria, Spain, is fresh off a strong indoor season in which he captured silver in the mile, bronze in the 3,000 meters and ran anchor leg on EKU's silver-medal distance medley relay team at the OVC Indoor Championships in February.
 
He was also a key runner on the EKU men's cross country team that finished 16^th at the NCAA Championships in November.
 
The EKU track and field teams return to action this weekend, April 5-6, at the WKU Hilltopper Relays in Bowling Green, Kentucky.