Junior sprinter Dani Bland of the Emory University Women's Track and Field team has been named the University Athletic Association's Most Outstanding Outdoor Track Performer of the Year as announced by the league office Thursday afternoon.
Bland, who also garnered UAA Performer of the Year honors during the indoor season, becomes just the third female to capture both the indoor and outdoor UAA Most Outstanding Performer awards in either the running or field events in the same year in program history. Kahlilah Jennings was named the UAA Women's Track indoor and outdoor Most Outstanding Performer of the Year during the 1997 season and Theresa Ford was named the UAA MOP for indoor and outdoor field events in 2013.
At the 2018 UAA Outdoor Championships this past weekend, Bland claimed a pair of individual titles and assisted on two championship winning relays as the Eagles placed third in the team standings with 163.5 points. Bland posted winning times of 12.45 and 26.13 in the finals of the 100m and 200m Dashes and turned in times of 48.01 with junior Dilys Osei, senior Julia Leventhal and freshman Rebekah Bondi in the 4x100m Relay and 3:52.73 with Osei, sophomore Kaitlyn Leonard and senior Erica Goldman in the 4x400m Relay.
Bland and her Eagle teammates return to action this Saturday, May 5th with the University of Georgia's Torrin Lawrence Memorial meet in Athens, GA.