Athlete of the Week for December 9

Brandon Birdsong

After being the first Adams State Grizzly through the finish chute for the first time in a major meet during his career and leading Adams State to their third consecutive NCAA Division II National title, senior Brandon Birdsong has been named as the ASCGrizzlies.com Athlete of the Week for the week ending Dec. 5.
Birdsong, who had been the Grizzlies’ seventh runner across at the Central Regional Championship meet just two weeks prior, was across first in 31 minutes, 0.6 seconds, good for fourth place overall.
Birdsong was also the Grizzlies’ sixth runner through during the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championships on Nov. 6.
This was the first time in Birdsong’s career to lead the Grizzlies in a major meet and allowed him to earn his first U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association All-America honor, which went to the top 40 overall finishers.
The ASCGrizzlies.com Athlete of the Week award, which will be handed out weekly, was selected by a vote of media members and ASC athletic administrators as well as by visitors to the Grizzly website, who could cast their vote in an online poll.
Birdsong received six of the eight first place votes from the media members and administrators.
Kelly Erickson of the women’s swimming team won the online portion vote as she garnered 45.0 percent of the 251 votes cast through the website while Birdsong was close behind with 40.6 percent of the votes.
Other nominees for the honor this week included women’s cross country runner Kristen McGlynn, Adams State men’s basketball player, Seth Heinbaugh, women’s basketball player Kelsie Kruger, men’s swimmer Jared Machado, wrestler Luke McPeek and junior varsity basketball player Tay Merriman.