Colorado State University Athletics
Hamer Named Mountain West Men’s Indoor Student-Athlete of the Year
3/23/2020 1:34:00 PM | Track & Field
Mountain West Presents Hamer with Athlete of the Year Award on his Birthday
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Unbeknown to the Mountain West, the conference just added to Eric Hamer's birthday by awarding him Mountain West Men's Indoor Student-Athlete of the Year, the league office announced Monday afternoon based on votes from head coaches.
The accolade for Hamer, a senior on the Colorado State track and field team, caps a successful season that included a school record, an individual conference championship, a team conference championship, and qualification into the NCAA Championships. The latter canceled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Hamer, from Monument, Colo., joins Mostafa Hassan – winner of the award in 2017 and 2018 – as just the second Ram all-time to receive the accolade. The recognition adds to Hamer's seven All-Mountain West honors, including two from cross country throughout his time in the green uniform.
"Eric's indoor season was the capstone to an impressive career," distance coach Art Siemers said. "He twice ran under the previous school record in the 5000m, qualified for the NCAA championships and led our men's program to another Mountain West Championship. He overcame injuries and hardships early in his career and through extreme dedication he ended up being one of CSU's best distance runners in school history."
The Palmer Ridge High School product started the 2019-20 indoor season off amongst the top performers in the country at the prestigious Boston University Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener – a trip that just him and assistant coach Andrew Epperson went on – and broke the Colorado State 5,000-meter record. Of the five sections ran at the distance, Hamer won the second group with a time of 13:40.11, besting the previous school record in a margin of 4.13 seconds set by Grant Fischer on February 9, 2018. The time made its mark nationwide on the NCAA Indoor Performance list, qualifying him for his first career indoor meet, which held up for the duration of the season, ending as the 14th-best time in NCAA.
In his next time out at the Colorado Invitational, Hamer ran a personal-best in the 3,000-meter with a time of 8:22.30. The finish snuck him right into the No. 20 spot of CSU's all-time list.
The Iowa State Classic in mid-February proved Hamer's December school-record performance was no fluke. Hamer placed third in the 5,000-meter race with a time of 13:43.62 that would have still set a CSU record if it wasn't for his performance in Boston.
Lastly, Hamer provided 18 points for the Rams en route to helping CSU repeat as Mountain West Men's Indoor Champions. On Friday of the conference meet, Hamer won the 5,000-meter race after crossing at 14:24.30 for his first-ever All-MW indoor honor. A day later, he finished second in the 3,000-meter race to climb on top of the podium a second time.
Another exclusive group that Hamer joined was one with his former teammates – Jerrell Mock and Grant Fischer – on qualifying for the NCAAs in the 5,000m. The race never ran, but he was there.
"It has been great to see how Eric has grown in his career here at Colorado State," head coach Brian Bedard added. "He dealt with adversity along the way but attacked it with composure and maturity in and out of competition. Art Siemers has done a phenomenal job individually with Hamer's progression and training schedule over of years. This is not an easy award to get, so we are excited for Eric."
For More on Colorado State Track & Field and Cross Country follow: Twitter – CSUTrackFieldXC | Instagram – csutrackfieldXC | Facebook – Colorado State Track & Field/Cross Country
The accolade for Hamer, a senior on the Colorado State track and field team, caps a successful season that included a school record, an individual conference championship, a team conference championship, and qualification into the NCAA Championships. The latter canceled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Hamer, from Monument, Colo., joins Mostafa Hassan – winner of the award in 2017 and 2018 – as just the second Ram all-time to receive the accolade. The recognition adds to Hamer's seven All-Mountain West honors, including two from cross country throughout his time in the green uniform.
"Eric's indoor season was the capstone to an impressive career," distance coach Art Siemers said. "He twice ran under the previous school record in the 5000m, qualified for the NCAA championships and led our men's program to another Mountain West Championship. He overcame injuries and hardships early in his career and through extreme dedication he ended up being one of CSU's best distance runners in school history."
The Palmer Ridge High School product started the 2019-20 indoor season off amongst the top performers in the country at the prestigious Boston University Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener – a trip that just him and assistant coach Andrew Epperson went on – and broke the Colorado State 5,000-meter record. Of the five sections ran at the distance, Hamer won the second group with a time of 13:40.11, besting the previous school record in a margin of 4.13 seconds set by Grant Fischer on February 9, 2018. The time made its mark nationwide on the NCAA Indoor Performance list, qualifying him for his first career indoor meet, which held up for the duration of the season, ending as the 14th-best time in NCAA.
In his next time out at the Colorado Invitational, Hamer ran a personal-best in the 3,000-meter with a time of 8:22.30. The finish snuck him right into the No. 20 spot of CSU's all-time list.
The Iowa State Classic in mid-February proved Hamer's December school-record performance was no fluke. Hamer placed third in the 5,000-meter race with a time of 13:43.62 that would have still set a CSU record if it wasn't for his performance in Boston.
Lastly, Hamer provided 18 points for the Rams en route to helping CSU repeat as Mountain West Men's Indoor Champions. On Friday of the conference meet, Hamer won the 5,000-meter race after crossing at 14:24.30 for his first-ever All-MW indoor honor. A day later, he finished second in the 3,000-meter race to climb on top of the podium a second time.
Another exclusive group that Hamer joined was one with his former teammates – Jerrell Mock and Grant Fischer – on qualifying for the NCAAs in the 5,000m. The race never ran, but he was there.
"It has been great to see how Eric has grown in his career here at Colorado State," head coach Brian Bedard added. "He dealt with adversity along the way but attacked it with composure and maturity in and out of competition. Art Siemers has done a phenomenal job individually with Hamer's progression and training schedule over of years. This is not an easy award to get, so we are excited for Eric."
For More on Colorado State Track & Field and Cross Country follow: Twitter – CSUTrackFieldXC | Instagram – csutrackfieldXC | Facebook – Colorado State Track & Field/Cross Country
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