March 19, 2010

Memphis, Tenn. - University of Memphis track and field athlete Steffen Nerdal was named Conference USA Indoor Field Athlete of the Year as announced by the league office on Friday.

The Norwegian native is the first Tiger athlete to receive athlete of the year honors since 2004 when Gaute Myklebust won the award during the outdoor season. Nerdal is the first athlete to earn the award during the indoor season since Kevin Robinson won the honors in 1996.

Nerdal earned his second-straight and third-overall All-America honor in the men's weight throw after turning in a second-place performance with a University of Memphis school record toss of 23.22m (76-02.25) at national's last weekend. He set or broke the school record three times this season and is the only Tiger track and field athlete to earn the All-America honor multiple times. He posted an NCAA automatic qualifying mark in every meet this season, including his throw of 22.91m (74-10.00) at the C-USA Championships which broke his own meet record for the third-straight year and earned him the 2010 C-USA Male Performance of the Meet for the third consecutive year.

After being redshirted during the outdoor season one year ago, Nerdal returns outdoors in hopes of winning a championship in the hammer throw. Nerdal will not compete at the Rhodes Open this weekend, but he is expected to compete at the LSU Relays next weekend.