OGDEN, Utah — Senior Sarah Dean has been named the Big Sky Women's Track Athlete of the Week for the second straight week after breaking the school record in the 1,500 meters at the Oregon Twilight meet, the conference announced Tuesday.

Dean is the first women's distance runner at Portland State to win the award twice in one season, and is only the second PSU distance runner ever to accomplish the feat, following Tony Crisofulli's two awards in 2011.
 
Dean set the record in the 1,500 Friday with a six-second personal best of 4:22.30 at the Oregon Twilight, breaking Bianca Martin's year-old record of 4:23.89. Dean's time moved her into the Big Sky lead in the 1,500 by more than two and a half seconds, and moves her up to 31st on the NCAA West Outdoor Qualifying list in the event.
 
Dean also ranks 17th in the NCAA West in the 10,000 meters, after running a 50-second personal best of 34:00.32 at last week's Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational, the performance that won Dean her first Big Sky Women's Track Athlete of the Week award.
 
Dean's regional ranks in the 1,500 and 10,000 put her in good position to qualify for the NCAA West Preliminary meet, as the top 48 declared student-athletes on the NCAA West Outdoor Qualifying list by the end of the day Sunday, May 18, qualify for the meet
 
Additionally, Dean ranks in the top four of the Big Sky in the 800 (2nd), 1,500 (1st), 5,000 (4th) and 10,000 (1st) going into the Big Sky Championships in Flagstaff, Ariz., later this week. Dean will double in the 1,500 and 5,000 at the Big Sky Championships, with the finals of both events set for Saturday, May 17.