Male Scholar Athlete of the Week: May 3rd – 7th, 2021
Institution: Kent State
Name: Scott Benco
Sport: Track & Field
Position: Javelin
Year: Redshirt Freshman
GPA: 3.976
Major: Physical Education
Week’s Achievements (detailed description of week’s events):
Scott Benco captured the javelin throw title at the MAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships with a mark of 216'-10" that was more than 13’ further than any other competitor. Benco, who passed on his final two attempts, had all three of his legal attempts go further than 200’ while the rest of the competition field had just 1 such throw on 43 legal attempts.
Female Scholar Athlete of the Week: May 3rd – 7th, 2021
Institution: Ball State
Name: Karlie Zumbro
Sport: Track & Field
Position: Heptathlon
Year: Junior
GPA: 3.816
Major: Exercise Science
Week’s Achievements (detailed description of week’s events):
Ball State junior Karlie Zumbro won the most grueling event at the 2021 MAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships, taking home the title of heptathlon champion. She opened the meet with a strong showing Friday, climbing to second on the heptathlon leaderboard after turning in personal-bests in each of the four opening-day events; 100m hurdles (14.42), 200m (25.33), shot put (9.96m) and outdoor high jump (1.60m). With 3,040 points entering the second day, Zumbro trailed Miami’s Sarah Bruns by a narrow margin. After placing third in the long jump (5.34m) and second in the javelin throw (36.19m), both of which were career-best marks, Zumbro was within 37 points of the lead heading into the final event. Needing to beat Bruns by at least four seconds in the 800m run to win the heptathlon title, Zumbro put it into high gear. She sprinted to a first-place time of 2:13.89, knocking nearly a full second off her previous career-best, to win the race by almost one-and-a-half seconds and top Bruns by over six seconds. With the effort, Zumbro finished with 5,196 points to move into second in program history. She is became just the fourth Cardinal to capture a MAC heptathlon championship, and the first since Thekla Lorenz won in 2012. Gloria Tyree was the first in 1982, while Jennifer McCoy won titles in 2004 and 2006.
