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Former Hawk excelling at Fresno State
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Former Central Valley High School athlete Latrisha Jordan is having an extraordinary first season with the Fresno State women's track and field team.

She was recently named Western Athletic Conference freshman of the year. Jordan received the award after having a banner day at the league meet on May 16 in Logan, Utah.

"It's an honor," said Latrisha, one of just two freshmen to rank in the top 20 in the nation in the 400-meter hurdles. "I'm overjoyed."

Latrisha bettered her own school record in the 400 hurdles for the fourth time when she blazed to a first-place finish at the WAC championships. She completed the event in 58.36, .12 seconds faster than her previous-best time.

"And it wasn't a clean race," Jordan said. "I stuttered over every hurdle."

Latrisha avoided disaster in the preliminaries of the 400 hurdles. She managed to take second despite stumbling over a hurdle and rolling three times on the ground at the 100-meter mark of the race.

"I just redeemed myself the next day and won," she said.

Latrisha ran the anchor leg on Fresno State's first-place 4x400 relay team (3:39.85). Jordan, Janev Morris, Tiera Hilliard and Vanessa Sautebin cut nearly four seconds of their season-best time on their way to earning an automatic bid to NCAA Regionals and ending Louisiana Tech's four-year reign as champions.

"Latrisha ran a 53.00 split in the 4x400 to win it for us," Fresno State head coach Scott Winsor said. "She was at least 15 meters back when she got the baton and won the race by five meters. She's just the kind of athlete that if there's someone in front of her, she's going to get them."

"That was my third 400 of the day and I wasn't even tired," Jordan said. "I didn't think it was a big deal. My teammates did."

Latrisha also posted an NCAA Regional qualifying mark when she finished fourth in the 400 with a career-best time of 54.35 seconds.

Jordan, Morris, Hilliard and Shanelle Stephens teamed up to place third in the 4x100 relay. They completed the event in a season-best 46.24 seconds.

"I don't have a strategy," Latrisha said. "I just run and pray I do good."

Jordan will compete in the 400 hurdles and fill the anchor leg on the 4x400 relay team at the NCAA Track&Field West Regionals, May 29-30, in Eugue, Ore.

"Every time I run, I always do it for my dad (Herman)," she said. "He's the reason I do track and will continue to do it. He's so happy when I win. He's like my biggest fan."