Prep and Pro Earn Readers' and Editors' Choice Awards

Track and field fans voiced their choices in this week's DyeStat's Performance of the Week poll, while DyeStat's editors made their own selection.

Readers’ Choice: Chris Hilton

With 45.01 percent of the vote, Chris Hilton won our Readers’ Choice vote, beating Katelynne Hart with her second-place tally of 26.9 percent.

The Zachary LA sophomore won his second Louisiana State Track and Field title Saturday, clearing a US#1 7-0 (2.13m) in the high jump at the Louisiana State Indoor Championships.

@iamchrishilton1 #1 High Jump in the nation clearing 7’ @LHSAA State Track meet pic.twitter.com/9DHKDY81bx

— Zachary High School Track & Field (@ZHSTrackField) February 17, 2019

The multi-sport star has already garnered significant attention by colleges for his prowess as a wide receiver on the football field. This winter Hilton has split his time between the the Zachary track and field team and the basketball team.

Hilton's growth in the high jump has been consistent. He started his freshman indoor campaign with a best of 6-6 (1.98m). Outdoors, Hilton raised the bar to 6-8 (2.03m) as he won his first track and field state title. Now in his sophomore year, he has once again improved and joined the seven-foot club.

Should Hilton continue high jumping through his high school career, the 1993 Louisiana state high school record of 7-3.50 (2.22m) could be in jeopardy.

Editors’ Choice: Samuel Tefera

In a week that saw multiple world records and other top-flight performances, it could have been difficult to choose who was most deserving this week. However, with some controversy surrounding the two road 5K world records, which was addressed at the end of this week's DyeStat Road Race Round-Up, this week's award goes to Samuel Tefera of Ethiopia.

Tefera broke the 1,500-meter indoor world record Saturday at the Birmingham Indoor Grand Prix, the penultimate stop on the IAAF World Indoor Tour. He ran 3:31.04 to break Hicham El Guerrouj's 1997 record of 3:31.18.

It was the second week in a row in which fellow Ethiopian Yomif Kejelcha attempted to break an El Guerrouj record. Last week, he came up 0.01 seconds short as he won the Wanamaker Mile at the NYRR Millrose Games.

This week, Kejelcha filed in behind the pacemakers from the start and then took up the pace when they dropped out. However, Tefera stayed on the heels of Kejelcha until the final lap. Tefera used the speed that carried him to the IAAF World Indoor Championships win last year in the 1,500 meters, also held in Birmingham, to win and break the record. Kejelcha finished second in 3:31.58, a personal best, but short of El Guerrouj's 1997 performance.

This is the first time that anyone other than El Guerrouj has broken an El Guerrouj record. The Moroccan was a dominant force in the middle distances in the 1990's and early 2000's.

Now that Tefera has broken such a long-standing record, we will need to wait to see if his indoor success can translate to the outdoor circuit. Despite running 3:31.63 early in the outdoor season last year, he finished eighth in the Diamond League final in Zurich and fifth at the IAAF World U-20 Championships.