HELENA, Mont. -- Montana Tech track & field freshman Ayla Janzen garnered the first Frontier Conference track athlete of the week award of her collegiate career, the league office announced Tuesday. 

Janzen, a Twin Bridges product who has already represented Tech at the NAIA indoor national meet this winter, raced to a pair of program top-three times in her outdoor-season opener Thursday at the Yellowjacket Open, hosted by MSU Billings. She ran the second-fastest 100-meter dash in Oredigger history at 12.44 seconds, and she also raced the 100m hurdles in 15.46 seconds to jump to third all-time at Tech. 

The first-year tacked on a terrific triple jump to her Thursday performance, leaping 11.01m. That, too, was the second-best mark in Tech history and put Janzen 26th on the NAIA leaderboard in the event. 

Her weekly honor was part of a near-sweep for the Orediggers in the Frontier's weekly awards program. Teammate Abby Clark won the women's field athlete of the week accolade, and Matthew Moreni captured the men's track award. 

Janzen and the Orediggers will be back in action Saturday in Helena at Carroll College's Fighting Saints Open. 

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