Sophomore Manika Gamble of the High Point University women's track & field team has been named the Big South Conference Choice Hotels Women's Track and Field Athlete of the Week, the conference announced Thursday. Gamble set the HPU record in the 100-meter hurdles on Saturday at the Wake Forest Open.

"We were very pleased with Manika's performance last weekend, particularly in the high hurdles," said HPU head coach Mike Esposito. "We weren't surprised that she ran so fast, but it was a bonus that she did it so early in the season. Her performance in the 400 hurdles was very comparable to her outdoor opener last year, and that's the type of event in which you see improvement as the season goes on. She has the potential to go much faster in both events."

Gamble's time of 14.18 in the 100-meter hurdles preliminaries was a career best, and she shattered that with her time of 13.96 in the finals. That broke the HPU record of 14.11 set by Jasmine Jones-Green in 2007.

Gamble finished fourth in that event, and also finished fourth in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:00.85, just 0.05 out of third place in the event.

Gamble and the Panthers will be running at the adidas Raleigh Relays on Friday and Saturday at NC State in Raleigh, N.C.