Statesmen of the Week: Youssef Hamed and Dekota Smith
Oskaloosa–Men’s track and field athlete Youssef Hamed (Jr., Al Wakrah, Qatar, Business Management) and women’s basketball player Dekota Smith (Jr., Toledo, Ohio, Computer Science) have been named the Statesmen of the Week for the week of December 8-14.
Hamed notched a pair of second-place finishes last Saturday at the Iowa Jimmy Grant Alumni Invitational. The junior’s runner-up placing in the 200-meter dash came in 22.02 seconds. More impressively, however, his silver in the 60-meter dash (6.74 seconds) met the NAIA’s provisional standard as Hamed punched his ticket for nationals in March.
Smith averaged 16.5 points and 7.5 rebounds per outing as the Statesmen won both of their games last week. She opened with 13 points and five boards against William Jewell last Thursday and then posted a double-double of 20 points and 10 rebounds versus Baker last Saturday.
Additionally, Smith recorded four assists, three steals, and one block. The junior shot 57.1% (12-for-21) from the field and 80.0% (8-for-10) from the free-throw line.
