Nov. 4, 2002

Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

EVANSTON, Ill. - Northwestern University has named its Hilton Garden Inn Athletes of the Week for the week of Oct. 28-Nov. 3. Football's Jason Wright (Diamond Bar, Calif./Diamond Bar) is this week's male recipient, while field hockey's Kendra Mesa (Madison, Conn./Daniel Hand) is the female recipient.

In the football team's 41-37 victory over Indiana, Wright, a junior, set single-game career bests in five statistical categories: rushing yards (219), all-purpose yards (308), rushing touchdowns (four), yards per carry average (9.5) and receiving yards (59).

He earned Big Ten Co-Offensive Player of the Week kudos for his performance. It was his third Big Ten player-of-the-week honor this year. With his 219-yard day, Wright became the eighth player in NU history to reach the 1,000-yard mark for season rushing.

Mesa, a senior, earned Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week honors after posting a pair of shutouts wins for the NU field hockey team last week. Mesa was perfect in net Friday against Indiana. She made one save as the Wildcats posted a 1-0 victory with a goal in the final minute of play.

Mesa followed up the effort with another shutout Sunday in a 3-0 victory over Colgate. She stopped a flurry of Colgate opportunities midway through the second half, on her way to recording all four of her saves after the intermission.