Western Kentucky held a candlelight vigil Monday night at the WKU Track and Field Complex in memory of track and field assistant coach Willie Johnson, who died Sunday. He was 34.

A native of Orlando, Fla., and two-time All-American and four-time All-ACC triple jumper at Florida State from 2002-05, Johnson came to WKU from Marshall, where he was an assistant coach from 2009-13. Johnson and his wife, Lacee, have one son, Ace.

“I lost a true friend on Sunday,” WKU head track and field coach Erik Jenkins said. “His friendship was invaluable, and I will dearly miss him. He gave so much to this program and cared deeply for his student-athletes. He was a great father, husband, friend and coach to many. We are here for Lacee and Ace as they process this very difficult time.”

Johnson, who assisted with the sprinters, hurdlers and jumpers, was in his fifth season on the WKU staff and coached 28 student-athletes to All-America honors and 105 to all-conference honors. Combined, 84 of Johnson’s student-athletes set program records.

“We are heartbroken as a WKU family at the loss of Coach Johnson,” WKU athletic director Todd Stewart said. “He was a valued member of our family, contributing to our student-athletes’ success both on and off the field, and our thoughts and prayers go out to his wife, Lacee, and Coach Johnson’s family during this time.”

His work with Conference USA Female Track Athlete of the Year Chioma Agwunobi, First Team All-American Ventavius Sears and Second Team All-American Emmanuel Dasor in 2015 was the driving force behind a dominant C-USA debut for WKU.

Elgedawy named Conference USA Freshman of the Week

Western Kentucky’s Raneem Elgedawy has been named the Conference USA Freshman of the Week as announced by the league office Monday afternoon after averaging 9.5 points and 8.5 rebounds in two meetings with Power Five opponents Notre Dame and Indiana last week.

The honor is the first of Elgedawy’s career at WKU and the first Freshman of the Week selection since Whitney Creech earned the honor Dec. 19, 2016.

Against Notre Dame last Tuesday, Elgedawy was matched up against All-American level post players in Jessica Shepard and Jackie Young. The Alexandria, Egypt, native tallied a season-best 12 points to go along with eight rebounds against the Fighting Irish while shooting 5-of-9 (.556) from the floor.

Friday at Indiana, she scored seven points and pulled down a season-high nine rebounds as WKU nearly pulled off a 15-point comeback against the Hoosiers.

For the season, Elgedawy is averaging 7.3 points and 6.3 rebounds in 26.5 minutes per game and has started all four games for WKU.