USTFCCCA News & Notes
By USTFCCCA Communications, USTFCCCA May 17, 2022   

NCAA OTF National Athletes of the Week (May 17)

NEW ORLEANS – Iron sharpens iron.

Here are the National Athletes of the Week in NCAA Track & Field for May 17, 2022!

Find out more about each of these athletes by clicking their names or scrolling below.

National Athlete of the Week is an award selected and presented by the USTFCCCA Communications Staff at the beginning of each week to eight collegiate track & field athletes, when applicable (male and female for each of the three NCAA divisions and the NJCAA).

Nominations are open to the public. Coaches and sports information directors are encouraged to nominate their student-athletes; as are student-athletes, their families and friends, and fans of their programs. Nominated athletes are noticed before those athletes found through searching TFRRS.

The award seeks to highlight not only the very best times, marks and scores on a week-to-week basis, but also performances that were significant on the national landscape and/or the latest in a series of strong outings. Quality of competition, suspenseful finishes and other factors will also play a role in the decision.

NCAA DIVISION I MEN – Micaiah Harris, Texas

Grad Student | Sprints
Virginia Beach, Virginia

On a weekend where blistering marks were clocked on the track, titanic throws* and big jumps dotted the field, Micaiah Harris stood tallest with a pair of jaw-dropping performances this past weekend at the Big 12 Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Lubbock, Texas.

Look no further than the windy 19.72 (+3.8) winner that Harris clocked in the final of the 200 meters. That moved Harris up to No. 6 on the all-conditions collegiate chart behind chart-topper Kenny Bednarek at 19.49 (+6.1), Andre De Grasse at 19.58 (+2.4), Leroy Burrell at 19.61 (+4.1), Terrance Laird at 19.64 (+5.6) and recognized collegiate record-holder Walter Dix at 19.69 (+0.9). Also, in that same race, Courtney Lindsey of Texas Tech took runner-up honors behind Harris in 19.81 to match the eighth-fastest all-conditions performer.

But, we said performances (plural). That’s because Harris also turned in a wind-aided 9.93 (+2.4) in the final of the 100 meters to capture that event title, too. Harris won by 0.04 seconds over Isaiah Cunningham of Baylor, who also dipped under 10 seconds at 9.97.

This is the third time this season that a male athlete from Texas has been named National Athlete of the Week. Harris joins Tripp Piperi (March 29) and Jonathan Jones (April 5).

*We’d be remiss to not mention Mykolas Alekna’s heave from the Pac-12 Outdoor Championships that bettered his own collegiate record to 68.73m (225-6). Alekna also topped the farthest throw by a collegian in any setting, going above Julian Wruck’s 68.16m (223-8) exhibition mark from 2013.

NCAA DIVISION I WOMEN – Britton Wilson, Arkansas

Sophomore | Sprints & Hurdles
Henrico, Virginia

Have yourself a day, Britton Wilson!

Never before had an SEC female athlete won both the open 400 meters and 400-meter hurdles at the same outdoor championships meet. That all changed on Saturday in Oxford, Mississippi.

Wilson swept those events with all-time collegiate marks: she opened the proceedings with a 50.05 effort in the 400 to beat current world leader Charokee Young of Texas A&M; then Wilson returned to the track less than one hour later for the 400H and clocked a world-leading 53.75. Both of those event marks cement Wilson as the sixth-best performer in collegiate history.

If you thought Wilson was done, you’d be wrong. Wilson returned to the track to anchor Arkansas’ 4×400 relay with a 48.6 split – the fastest in collegiate history. The Razorbacks, with Wilson’s heroics on the final leg, got the baton around in 3:22.55 to become the third-fastest program in collegiate history (Kentucky jumped to No. 1 behind its collegiate record-setting 3:21.93; Texas A&M, anchored by Young, is now ranked No. 2 with its 3:22.01 school record).

This is the first time since 2019 that a female athlete from Arkansas has been named National Athlete of the Week during the outdoor season (Janeek Brown). The Razorbacks have now seen four different female athlete earn national honors since at least 2015 (Wilson, Brown, and both Alex Gochenour and two-time honoree Sandi Morris in 2015).

NCAA DIVISION II MEN – Jahmaal Wilson, West Texas A&M

Freshman | Hurdles
Nassau, Bahamas

The NCAA Division II record in the Men’s 110 Meter Hurdles had stood for 28 years.

It finally went down on Sunday night.

Jahmaal Wilson, competing at the WT Last Chance Meet, ran a wind-legal 13.35 seconds (+1.7) to break Brian Amos’ record of 13.37 set back on May 12, 1994. That record breaks the Lone Star Conference record and school record, in addition to ranking him among the top-25 among all-collegians this year.

This is the fourth time this season a male athlete from West Texas A&M has been named National Athlete of the Week. Benjamin Azamati earned the honor three times this year on March 29, April 12 and May 10.

NCAA DIVISION II WOMEN – Makayla Jackson, Minnesota State

Sophomore | Sprints/Jumps
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

No one could beat Makayla Jackson at the NSIC Outdoor Championships.

Jackson, who competed in three individual events and and a relay, scored a meet-high 32.5 points to lead Minnesota State to its first team title since 2016. Her most notable wins came in the 100 and 200 where she set meet records of 11.43 and 23.56, respectively. She also soared 6.08m (19-11 ½) in the long jump to take home the event crown and toted the baton on the Mavericks’ victorious 4×100 relay.

This is the second time this outdoor season Jackson has been named National Athlete of the Week. She first earned the honor on April 12.

NCAA DIVISION III MEN – Koren Leonard, Benedictine (Ill.)

Freshman | Hurdles
River Forest, Illinois

Hurdles in his way, or not.

Handing off the baton, or not.

Koren Leonard is fast either way.

Competing at the Carius/Gregory Invitational, Leonard took over the national lead in the 110-meter hurdles at a wind-legal 14.08 (+1.5) and helped Benedictine (Ill.) clock the third-fastest mark in NCAA Division III history in the 4×100 relay at 40.17. Leonard, who served as lead-off leg for the 4×100 relay, improved his wind-legal seasonal best in the hurdling race by 0.11 seconds.

Just one week earlier, Leonard starred at the NACC Outdoor Track & Field Championships. He scored 20 points behind a clean sweep of the hurdles. Leonard set a PR of 55.02 in the 400H.

This is the first time in program history that an athlete from Benedictine (Ill.) has been named National Athlete of the Week during the outdoor season.

NCAA DIVISION III WOMEN – Alison Beeman, Dubuque

Grad Student | Sprints
Lakemoor, Illinois

What didn’t Alison Beeman do at the American Rivers Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships this past weekend in Dubuque, Iowa? Seriously, though.

Beeman competed in five different events (four individual, one relay) and scored 22¾ points for the Spartans. Most notable was Beeman’s sweep of the short sprints, as she took the 200 in an NCAA Division III-leading 24.09 and the 100 in 12.00. Beeman beat Loras’ Alyssa Pfadenhauer in the half-lap race as the pair clocked the two-fastest marks in NCAA DIII this season.

Among Beeman’s other results at the meet: eighth place in the high jump at 1.51m (4-11½); third place as part of Dubuque’s 4×100 relay and eighth place as part of its 4×400 relay.

This is the second time this season that a female athlete from Dubuque has been named National Athlete of the Week. Beeman joins thrower Kaitlyn Wilder from April 19.