Feb. 22, 2005

Irving, Texas - University of Memphis junior thrower J.D. Erickson has been honored with the Conference USA Men's Indoor Athlete of the Week for the final week of the indoor season, it was announced Tuesday, February 20, by the C-USA office.

The Memphis native, who placed second in the weight throw with a personal-best mark of 60-07.25" (18.47m) and third in the shot put with a toss of 54-08.25" (16.67m) at last weekend's SEMO Invitational is the first Tiger athlete to take home Athlete of the Week honors for the 2004-05 season. Lady Tiger Gail Lee became the first U of M athlete to earn the award in 2005 when she was named Women's Athlete of the Week on January 25.

With his tally in the weight throw from SEMO and a toss of 55-10.25" (17.02m) in the shot put at the ASU Kickoff Klassic, Erickson ranks second in C-USA in both the weight and shot entering this weekend's Conference USA Indoor Championships.

The C-USA indoor meet will be held at Yeoman Fieldhouse on the campus of the University of Houston. Competition is set to begin at 9:00 a.m. Friday, February 25, with the men's heptathlon kicking off the meet. Events will follow throughout the day on Friday and will resume Saturday, February 26 at 9:00 a.m. with the completion of the men's heptathlon.