Mountain West Announces 2023 Indoor Track & Field Student-Athletes of the Year

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By East Arapahoe News Report

Mar 31, 2023

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Air Force’s Sam Gilman has been named the 2023 Mountain West Men’s Indoor Track & Field Student-Athlete of the Year, while San José State’s Emilia Sjostrand and UNLV’s Rosa Santana have been named the 2023 MW Co-Women’s Indoor Track and Field Student-Athletes of the Year, as voted on by the league’s head coaches.

The honor is awarded to the best male and female student-athletes in the Conference following the conclusion of the indoor season.

For the second year in a row, Gilman claims the Conference’s top honor. Gilman is the second Falcon to claim student-athlete of the year honors, joining Michael Rhoads (2019), and it marks the third time in the last four occasions that the accolade has been awarded to a Falcon.

The senior picked up his fourth All-America award of his career, as he closed out the indoor season with an 11th-place finish in the 3000-meter run at the 2023 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championship.

Gilman opened the MW championship by anchoring the distance medley relay to the title for the second-straight year, clocking the fastest mile time in qualifying the next day and closed the meet by posting the fourth-fastest time in MW championship history to successfully defend his conference championship in the mile – becoming just the third Conference runner to ever win back-to-back titles in that event.

On the women’s side, Sjostrand and Santana are the first student-athletes from San José State and UNLV to win the honor.

Sjostrand set a school record on her way to become the first All-American woman in San José State Track & Field history after finishing her indoor season seventh in the nation in the women's triple jump at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championship. She also placed 11th in the long jump at the NCAA championship.

The sophomore was named the MW Women’s Performer of the Meet at the Conference championship after winning gold medals in the long jump and triple jump.

With a third-place finish and a Mountain West record of 18.43 meters in the women's shot put, Santana earned First Team All-America status for the first time in her career.

Santana was crowned the women's shot put champion with a MW championship record mark of 17.91 meters to close out the 2023 Mountain West Indoor Track & Field Championships.