Colorado State University Athletics
Hamer and Sieg Earn USTFCCCA All-America Honors
5/26/2020 12:22:00 PM | Track & Field
Ram Duo Receives All-American Awards After NCAAs cancelled
NEW ORLEANS – Unprecedented times called for reconfiguration of the USTFCCCA All-America program for the 2020 indoor track & field season, which resulted in Colorado State's Eric Hamer and Tarynn Sieg receiving All-America honors, announced Tuesday by the national office.
The cancellation of the 2020 NCAA Indoor Track Championships due to the COVID-19 left many student-athletes empty-handed track side in Albuquerque – including Sieg and Hamer. Although it cannot replace competition, The Division I Track & Field Executive Committee, with support of the USTFCCCA Board of Directors, has directed the national office to pivot. The criteria that affected the Rams dealt with the Individual events in which ALL student-athletes listed on the startlist for the anticipated event received the award.
Hamer, a senior from Monument, Colo., was set to compete in the 5,000-meter race with the 14th-best time. Over in the throws, Sieg, a junior from Eaton, Colo., was in the shot-put field with the 12th-best throw nationally.
"We literally just finished up our last practice at NCAAs when we got word that they were shutting it down," CSU track and field head coach Brian Bedard recalls. "That was a tough time to go through with them [Hamer & Sieg], but what was pretty neat from our student-athlete's standpoint was that they understood the bigger picture. That this virus was more than track and field and the importance of keeping people safe. They had a real mature attitude and sometimes in those situations, the coaches learn more from the athletes than vice versa. Eric and Tarynn had an outstanding year and are well-deserving of this latest accolade."
The top 16 in the nation qualified for nationals, with Hamer among the first to punch his ticket in the 5,000m, doing so with a school record 13:40.11 back in December at the Boston Season Opener. Sieg waited until the Mountain West Championships to unleash a shot put at 55 feet,6.5 inches to win the event and punch herself a return ticket back to nationals.
The award for Hamer caps a remarkable season that included a Mountain West Men's Indoor Student-Athlete of the Year honor, a school record, an individual conference championship, a team conference championship and his first-ever qualification into the NCAA Indoor Championships.
The same can be said about the season for Sieg who swept the throwing events at the MW Championships, becoming just the third individual to win both the weight throw and shot put at indoors. The feat has been accomplished four times – three by a Ram as CSU Hall of Famer Loree Smith did so twice. It is the second consecutive year Sieg has earned All-American shot put honors. Last year, she earned second-team honors after finishing 12th with a throw of 53-0.
On the women's side, the honor marks the 22nd award in program history, while the number of student-athletes in the category stays at 16. The shot put total now is tied with the weight throw at seven for the most among events. Sieg becomes the fourth Ram with at least two indoor awards, joining Debbie Mass (1994, '95), Smith (2x; 2003, 05') and Kiah Hicks (2014, '15), while Sieg and Smith are the only two-time shot put indoor All-Americans.
A first-time indoor All-American, Hamer, increases the men's total to 19 individuals and 29 awards. Hamer joined the exclusive group along with former teammates – Jerrell Mock and Grant Fischer – on earning All-American status in the 5,000.
For More on Colorado State Track & Field and Cross Country follow: Twitter – CSUTrackFieldXC | Instagram – csutrackfieldXC | Facebook – Colorado State Track & Field/Cross Country
The cancellation of the 2020 NCAA Indoor Track Championships due to the COVID-19 left many student-athletes empty-handed track side in Albuquerque – including Sieg and Hamer. Although it cannot replace competition, The Division I Track & Field Executive Committee, with support of the USTFCCCA Board of Directors, has directed the national office to pivot. The criteria that affected the Rams dealt with the Individual events in which ALL student-athletes listed on the startlist for the anticipated event received the award.
Hamer, a senior from Monument, Colo., was set to compete in the 5,000-meter race with the 14th-best time. Over in the throws, Sieg, a junior from Eaton, Colo., was in the shot-put field with the 12th-best throw nationally.
"We literally just finished up our last practice at NCAAs when we got word that they were shutting it down," CSU track and field head coach Brian Bedard recalls. "That was a tough time to go through with them [Hamer & Sieg], but what was pretty neat from our student-athlete's standpoint was that they understood the bigger picture. That this virus was more than track and field and the importance of keeping people safe. They had a real mature attitude and sometimes in those situations, the coaches learn more from the athletes than vice versa. Eric and Tarynn had an outstanding year and are well-deserving of this latest accolade."
The top 16 in the nation qualified for nationals, with Hamer among the first to punch his ticket in the 5,000m, doing so with a school record 13:40.11 back in December at the Boston Season Opener. Sieg waited until the Mountain West Championships to unleash a shot put at 55 feet,6.5 inches to win the event and punch herself a return ticket back to nationals.
The award for Hamer caps a remarkable season that included a Mountain West Men's Indoor Student-Athlete of the Year honor, a school record, an individual conference championship, a team conference championship and his first-ever qualification into the NCAA Indoor Championships.
The same can be said about the season for Sieg who swept the throwing events at the MW Championships, becoming just the third individual to win both the weight throw and shot put at indoors. The feat has been accomplished four times – three by a Ram as CSU Hall of Famer Loree Smith did so twice. It is the second consecutive year Sieg has earned All-American shot put honors. Last year, she earned second-team honors after finishing 12th with a throw of 53-0.
On the women's side, the honor marks the 22nd award in program history, while the number of student-athletes in the category stays at 16. The shot put total now is tied with the weight throw at seven for the most among events. Sieg becomes the fourth Ram with at least two indoor awards, joining Debbie Mass (1994, '95), Smith (2x; 2003, 05') and Kiah Hicks (2014, '15), while Sieg and Smith are the only two-time shot put indoor All-Americans.
A first-time indoor All-American, Hamer, increases the men's total to 19 individuals and 29 awards. Hamer joined the exclusive group along with former teammates – Jerrell Mock and Grant Fischer – on earning All-American status in the 5,000.
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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