Kelsey Duerksen played a vital role in Pioneer High School winning three straight girls track and field Class A state championships from 2006-08.

She's not doing so bad at the next level as well.

Duerksen, a senior at Indiana University, was named the Big Ten women's indoor track athlete of the week, the conference announced on Monday. Duerksen has been given the award twice in as many weeks during the indoor track season.

Duerksen, a 2008 Pioneer grad, placed first in the 800-meter run with a time of two minutes, 11.89 second and the mile (4:44.84) as Indiana defeated Purdue in a dual meet on Saturday. Her time in the mile ranks first in the Big Ten and third in the country, while her 800-meter effort is third in the conference and 13th in the NCAA this season. She won the award the week of Dec. 12 as well, the last time it was given this season.

"Kelsey lined up and competed hard this weekend to help our team get the win," Indiana track and field director and head coach Ron Helmer in a release. "We need more of our student-athletes to take on her mentality to keep our women's program moving forward. Each opportunity to compete is an opportunity to get better, and Kelsey has done a good job of taking advantage of each race she has run this season."

Pete Cunningham covers sports for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at petercunningham@annarbor.com. Follow him on Twitter @petcunningham.