TRIPLE CROWN: Macon-Ford lands third AMC Athlete of the Week award
ST. LOUIS MO – This is becoming old hat for Leah Macon-Ford. On Monday, the Eutectics talented young speedster was again named the Track Athlete of the Week by the American Midwest Conference for the week of March 17-23.
UHSP competed in the Emory Spring Break Classic in Georgia on Saturday and Macon-Ford ran very well in the 100M Dash. Fresh off running in the Indoor Nationals in Florida less than a month ago and finishing 14th overall, Macon-Ford this time set the pace in the Qualifying round topping the entire field with a time of 12.15 seconds. She finished .01 seconds ahead of Chloe Hein of Centre as just 13 runners in the field of 80 finished with a time of sub-12.50.
In the Preliminary round, Macon-Ford ran in the first heat and again led the pack clocking in at 12.07 to win her heat with the seventh best time overall. Then in the finals, it was Macon-Ford and Hein battling again, this time for sixth place overall. Hein bested Macon-Ford this time by .15 seconds as Macon-Ford finished seventh with a time of 12.23.
All three times that Macon-Ford ran at the meet in the Peach State shattered the previous UHSP record in the 100M Dash. Grace Noble held the Eutectic record for 12 years after running a 13.01 back in 2013.
Macon-Ford was also part of the UHSP 4 x 100m Relay team that finished with a time of 51.39 seconds. That time was .33 seconds shy of setting a new UHSP record in that event with the current school record standing at 51.07 seconds set just two years ago.
The Athlete of the Week award marks the third already this year for Macon-Ford. Her success on the indoor circuit landed her the conference's award for the week of Jan. 13-19 and Jan. 27-Feb. 2.
It will be a much shorter trip for Macon-Ford and the Eutectics for their next meet as they compete in the SLU Speed/Power Festival and the SLU Billiken Invite both hosted by St. Louis University on Friday and Saturday.