Ball State women's track & field senior Patricia Soman (Arlington, VA/Bishop O'Connell High School) earned her second Mid-American Conference Track & Field Athlete of the Week honor for her record-setting performance at the Smith Barney Invitational meet in Indianapolis February 1.

"It is great to see Patricia performing at such a high level after battling back from knee surgery last year," said BSU head coach Sue Parks. "She is in incredible shape and I believe her best marks are still ahead of her this season. We know how tough it will be to stay No. 1 in the nation but she has definitely made a strong statement. She will be tough to beat, and a strong candidate for a high finish and All-America honors at the NCAA meet. Patricia is definitely the dominant jumper in the MAC right now and it is nice to see her recognized at the conference level as well."

Soman demolished the Ball State school records in the long jump and triple jump--on her way to NCAA provisional qualifying marks in each event--at the Smith Barney Invitational on Saturday. Soman's long jump of 20 feet 10 1/2 inches(6.36m) was six inches better than the school standard she set in the opening meet of the season, was a Smith Barney Invitational record, broke the all-time MAC mark (20-4 3/4) set by Akron's Christi Smith in 1999, and is currently the top distance in the nation. In addition, Soman's long jump of 6.36m tied for 11th in the world according to the International Amatuer Athletics Federation.

In the triple jump, Soman recorded a leap of 42 feet 6 1/4 inches (12.96m), which was 5 1/2 inches longer than the previous school record of 42-0 3/4 (12.82m), set by Soman at the Cyclone Qualifier (3/1/02).

The following weekend, she competed in the 60M and 200M events at the Kent State Invitational meet and won both events.

We wish the best of luck to Patricia in her track career. Editor

An Update on February 8th Action
Soman Continues to Impress at Doug Raymond

Kent (OH) -- Ball State's multi-talented Patricia Soman continues to establish herself as arguably the top athlete in the Mid-American Conference. Taking a break from her long and triple jump duties, the NCAA long jump current leader won the 200-meters in a new MAC-leading time of 24.23 and won the 60- meter dash in a time of 7.66 seconds as well. Head women's coach, Sue Parks, is going to have the easiest, or toughest, decision to make this year when she is filling out the entry forms for the MAC Championships. It is becoming plainly clear that Ball State's title hopes are going to rest on the shoulders of Patricia Soman and her ability to score upwards of 40-points on her own (a point total that will likely outscore close to half of the other MAC teams in their entirety).