2016 NCAA DI Indoor National Athletes of the Year Announced

NEW ORLEANS — What has 10 legs, seven individual NCAA titles, set or tied three collegiate records and owns three other top-3 marks in collegiate history?

Give up?

The 2016 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field National Athletes of the Year.

Edward Cheserek, Ryan Crouser, Akela Jones, Molly Seidel and Kendell Williams were all honored Thursday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) for their outstanding efforts throughout the indoor season.

You may say there are five athletes and only four awards. That’s because after a close vote by the nation’s coaches, Jones and Williams were deemed Co-National Women’s Field Athletes of the Year. Cheserek was the sole winner of the National Men’s Track Athlete of the Year, Crouser nabbed the National Men’s Field Athlete of the Year and Seidel was named the National Women’s Track Athlete of the Year.

What Cheserek accomplished from the last week of February until the season ended inside the Birmingham CrossPlex was nothing short of incredible.

It all started at the iconic Millrose Games where Cheserek ran the second fastest 3000 meters in collegiate history. His 7:40.51 truly stood out because the Oregon junior bucked his typical hang-back-and-kick mentality and led an elite field from 1600 meters until 2700 meters after the pacers dropped out.

Cheserek then turned his attention back to the collegiate level and left the competition in his wake.

At NCAAs, Cheserek completed the 3000-5000-DMR triple, something only one other man had done before (Galen Rupp, 2009). What separates his triple from Rupp’s was that less than 30 minutes after winning the 5000 in 13:47.89 on Friday, he returned to the track and anchored the Ducks’ championship relay team in 3:52.84, one of the fastest legs in meet history.

The following afternoon Cheserek pulled away to capture the 3000 crown in 8:00.40.

Knowing he had no more eligibility left, Texas’ Crouser made his last season count.

The senior from Boring, Oregon never lost in his signature event (shot put) and left his mark on the record books at the Big 12 Championships in Ames, Iowa.

Crouser put together one of the best series in recent memory with four heaves over 21 meters (68-10¾). Then on his final attempt, Crouser launched the sphere 21.73m (71-3½) to tie Ryan Whiting’s collegiate record.

A few weeks later, Crouser put a bow on his senior year with an NCAA title. Crouser fell short of his pre-meet goal (72 feet), but did beat the closest competitor by more than two feet.

Staying in the Big 12, Kansas State’s Jones made her intentions known early in the season when she tallied at the time what was the second highest total in pentathlon history (4643).

At the conference championships Jones won titles in the high jump and long jump on her way to an unfathomable 31.5 points. The senior from St. Michael, Barbados tied a meet record in the former (1.93m/6-4) and set one in the latter (6.75m/22-1¾).

After a fall in the first event of the pentathlon at NCAAs, Jones strung together arguably the best three-event string in history. Jones scored 3083 combined points in the high jump, shot put and long jump mainly because of a collegiate-record tying clearance of 1.98m (6-6) in the high jump.

The very next day Jones won the open high jump with a best of 1.87m (6-1½).

Seidel tapped into her potential last June in Eugene, Oregon and hasn’t slowed since then.

The Notre Dame senior from Hartland, Wisconsin made quick work of the ACC Championships (3000-5000 titlists) and arrived in Birmingham, Alabama entered in both. Just like she did two weeks earlier, Seidel swept the distance events in efficient fashion.

Seidel won the 5000 in 15:15.21, the third fastest time in collegiate history. Then the following afternoon, she doubled up with a seven-second win in the 3000 (Seidel ran 8:57.86).

Like she has her entire career, Williams put on a clinic at NCAAs.

As a freshman and sophomore, Williams set and then broke the pentathlon collegiate record. You better believe the junior from Marietta, Georgia did so again in 2016.

Williams became the first woman in collegiate history to eclipse the 4700-point barrier. Her total of 4703 bettered her previous record by 25 points.