Feb. 22, 2011

IRVING, Tex. – Senior thrower Knut Syversen, of the Memphis men’s track and field squad, has been named this week’s Conference USA Male Indoor Athlete of the Week.

“This is an honor that is long-deserved for Knut,” said head coach Kevin Robinson. “He’s in a good position to be successful at the upcoming conference championships.”

Syversen won his third weight throw title of the indoor season this past weekend at the SEMO Invite with a 19.21m (63-0.25) toss, besting the rest of the field by over two inches.

The Sarpsborg, Norway native was also second in the shot put with a 16.68m (54-8.75) throw for his career’s first Indoor Athlete of the Week honor, and second overall. He won the conference’s outdoor Athlete of the Week for the week of April 22, 2008.

Last season, Steffen Nerdal was a three-time recipient of the men’s Indoor Athlete of the Week honor (Jan. 26, Feb. 2, Feb. 23) on his way to Conference USA Male Indoor Athlete of the Year honors.

This is Memphis’ second weekly conference award this season. Junior Karlis Pujats took home the award for the week of Feb. 1 after his school-record 5.36m (17’ 7”) pole vault won the Rod McCravy Memorial and propelled Pujats to a current ranking of tied for 12th in the nation.

Syversen is the second-seeded thrower at this weekend’s Conference USA Indoor Championships, hosted by Houston, just over two inches behind UTEP’s Dimitrios Fylladitakis. He’s also seeded fourth for the shot put. Both qualifying marks came two weeks ago at the Hoosier Hills Invite.