M-F Athletic National Athletes of the Week (May 6)
NEW ORLEANS — Do you like records?
How about all-time marks?
Here are our M-F Athletic National Athletes of the Week for April 29, 2024!
- NCAA Division I Men — Nico Young, Northern Arizona
- NCAA Division I Women — Sophia Beckmon, Illinois
- NCAA Division II Men — Eli Kosiba, Grand Valley State
- NCAA Division II Women — Alexis Brown, Lenoir-Rhyne
- NCAA Division III Men — Christian Patzka, UW-Whitewater
- NCAA Division III Women — Ren Brown, UChicago
- NAIA Men — Evert Silva, Oklahoma City
- NAIA Women — Soyinne Grenyion, Indiana Tech
- NJCAA Division I Men — Christopher Young, Barton (Kan.) CC
- NJCAA Division I Women — Jazmine Williamson, Barton (Kan.) CC
- NJCAA Division III Men — Omar Mohamed, Mohawk Valley (N.Y.) CC
- NJCAA Division III Women — Trinity Ortiz, Finger Lakes (N.Y.) CC
Find out more about each of these athletes by 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 14 collegiate cross country athletes, when applicable (male and female for each of the three NCAA divisions, the NAIA 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 – Nico Young, Northern Arizona
Junior | Distance
Camarillo, California
Range, thy name is Nico Young.
Young, already the fastest man in collegiate history in both the 5000 meters and 10,000 meters, added an all-time top-5 mark to his resume in the 1500 meters this past weekend, The Northern Arizona standout went 3:34.56 to top a strong field at the Oxy Invitational and move up to third on the legendary ledger.
Young beat teammate and former M-F Athletic National Athlete of the Week Colin Sahlman and 2016 Olympic gold medalist Matthew Centrowitz Jr., among others (To wit: Sahlman, the runner-up, went 3:35.64 for the fourth-fastest mark in collegiate history).
During the same meet, Young also won the 5000 meters in 13:36.48.
This is the second time this season that Young has been named M-F Athletic National Athlete of the Week. Young previously earned national weekly honors after shattering the collegiate record in the 10,000 meters in late March.
NCAA DIVISION I WOMEN – Sophia Beckmon, Illinois
Freshman | Jumps
Oregon City, Oregon
It had been nearly one month since Sophia Beckmon recorded a legal jump.
Beckmon probably couldn’t wait to put one on the board this past weekend at the Fighting Ilini Tune-Up. And when Beckmon did, she made it count in a big way.
The Illinois freshman followed a PR in Round 1 with an even bigger one in Round 3: 6.86m (22-6¼), to be exact. Not only did that shatter Big Ten, school and facility records, it equaled the American U20 record set by Alyssa Jones of Stanford last year at the NCAA Championships. Beckmon and Jones are also tied at No. 11 on the all-time collegiate chart with the farthest jumps by freshmen in collegiate history.
This is the first time in program history that an athlete from Illinois has been named M-F Athletic National Athlete of the Week during the outdoor season.
NCAA DIVISION II MEN – Eli Kosiba, Grand Valley State
Senior | Jumps
Rensselaer, Indiana
Ladies and gentlemen, Eli Kosiba.
The Grand Valley State high jump star reigned victorious at the 2024 GLIAC Outdoor Championships, leaping up and over the 2.28m (7-5¾) bar. More notably, the well-timed PR served as a one way ticket to the collegiate lead and brought him up to seventh all-time in the NCAA DII record book.
After breezing through his first three heights, Kosiba opted to skip 2.25m (7-4½), the very mark that his two teammates, Jonathan Rankins-James and Javion Harrison, were forced to bow out.
On his third and final attempt, with the rest of his competition watching at this point, Kosiba cleared 2.28m (7-5¾).
This is the second time that Kosiba has been named M-F Athletic National Athlete of the Week during the outdoor season. Kosiba previously earned national weekly honors on April 25, 2023.
NCAA DIVISION II WOMEN – Alexis Brown, Lenoir-Rhyne
Sophomore | Sprints
Mableton, Georgia
Take a bow, Alexis Brown.
The last time that the Lenoir-Rhyne sprinter was honored as USTFCCCA M-F Athletic National Athlete of the Week, she broke the NCAA DII 100 meter record twice in a matter of a few hours. Brown came pretty darn close to repeating the feat, breaking the record once this time with an 11.04 clocking in the prelims of the 2024 SAC Outdoor Championships.
Brown doubled back in the 200 meters, racing to a 23.26, but it was her teammate, Victoria Aransiola that took home the win at 22.87. It took the number seven performance in NCAA DII history to beat Brown in the short sprints.
The duo joined two other teammates in the 4x100m relay, smoking the rest of the field by two seconds at 44.77. The cherry on top earned Brown Women’s Track Athlete of the Meet honors.
This is the second time that Brown has been named M-F Athletic National Athlete of the Week this season. Brown previously earned national weekly honors on April 15.
NCAA DIVISION III MEN – Christian Patzka, UW-Whitewater
Junior | Distance
Black Earth, Wisconsin
Christian Patzka went for it this past weekend at the WIAC Outdoor Championships.
By “it,” we mean the NCAA DIII steeplechase record of 8:38.46 held by Christian Collet.
When the dust – er, water pit – settled, Patzka stopped the clock at 8:38.55, an agonizing 0.09 seconds off the all-time standard. Taking down that record would also mean taking back that record since Collet snatched it from Patzka less than one week after he initially set it last year.
Needless to say, Patzka won the event and later doubled back to win the 1500-meter title, too.
This is the second week in a row that Patzka has been named M-F Athletic National Athlete of the Week. Patzka previously earned national weekly honors on April 29 after he notched the second-fastest mark in NCAA DIII history in the 5000 meters of 13:51.23.
NCAA DIVISION III WOMEN – Ren Brown, UChicago
Junior | Sprints/Hurdles
Naples, Florida
Ren Brown is undefeated this season across four individual events.
While Brown has notched quick marks in the 200 meters, 400 meters and 100-meter hurdles, she’ll probably put what she tallied in the 400-meter hurdles this past weekend at the Billy Hayes Invitational at the top of the list. After all, that’s where her mark resides on the all-time chart.
Brown took down a near 10-year-old NCAA DIII record with her 57.85 clocking. That was a huge PR for the UChicago standout, who had previously only gone sub-60 seconds once in her career – one week earlier at 59.34 to win the event title at the UAA Outdoor Championships.
This is the first time in program history that an athlete from UChicago has been named M-F Athletic National Athlete of the Week during the outdoor season.
NAIA MEN – Evert Silva, Oklahoma City
Senior | Distance
Fresno, California
No man in NAIA history had run sub-3:40 in the 1500 meters before this past weekend.
Notice how we wrote that in the past tense, because Evert Silva made history at the Arkansas Twilight in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Silva traversed the distance in 3:39.87 to win the event title and better the previous NAIA record set earlier this season by Cumberlands (Ky.)’s Luca Santorum.
The Oklahoma City standout has only competed five times this outdoor season, but has won four of those races. Silva took top individual honors in the 1500 meters at the Arkansas Spring Invitational back in early April and won 1500-meter and 10,000-meter titles at the Sooner Athletic Conference Outdoor Championships two weeks ago.
This is the first time in program history that an athlete from Oklahoma City has been named M-F Athletic National Athlete of the Week during the outdoor season.
NAIA WOMEN – Soyinne Grenyion, Indiana Tech
Senior | Event
Hyattsville, Maryland
Soyinne Grenyion made a statement with her second-straight 400-meter title at the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference Championships, winning by 1.75 seconds in a time of 53.80.
While the time gave her a second-straight win in the event and puts her No. 3 on this year’s NAIA list and No. 7 all-time, that was nothing compared to the 200 that was still to come.
Some 90 minutes later, Grenyion sped the half-lap race in a scintillating 23.11, taking the NAIA national yearly lead and moving to No. 3 on the all-time list.
This is the first time that a female athlete from Indiana Tech has been named M-F Athletic National Athlete of the Week during the outdoor season.
NJCAA DIVISION I MEN – Christopher Young, Barton (Kan.) CC
Sophomore | Throws
Clarendon, Jamaica
Christopher Young usually competes in all four throwing events at the same time only in championship meets.
The NJCAA Region VI/Kansas Jayhawk Conference Championships met that threshold, and Young repeated as the meet’s high-point scorer with 36 points – winning two events and finishing runner-up in the other two (Young scored 30 points last year).
He started off Friday in the discus, achieving his only PR of the meet at 59.93m (196-7) as teammate Ricardo Hayles won at 60.83m (199-7) – both now ranking in the NJCAA all-time top-10 (Hayles No. 7, Young =No. 10). Next up was the javelin, an event Young won at last year’s NJCAA DI Championships but hadn’t contested this year since March. He notched 10 points with a repeat victory at 58.59m (192-3).
Saturday morning started off with the shot put, which pitted last year’s national outdoor champ (Young) against this year’s indoor champ (Trevor Gunzell of Coffeyville). While Young claimed two of the three farthest puts of the day, his best of 17.68m (58-0¼) was 8cm short of Gunzell. Young wrapped the meet up with a seasonal-best of 55.32m (181-6) to win the hammer title.
This is the tenth time that a male athlete from Barton has been named M-F Athletic National Athlete of the Week during the outdoor season. Young joins Brandon Lloyd (2022), Shakwon Coke (twice in 2021), Alencar Pereira (three times in 2019), Christian Lyon (2018), Enrique Martinez (2018) and Deron Gordon (2015) in that regard.
NJCAA DIVISION I WOMEN – Jazmine Williamson, Barton (Kan.) CC
Sophomore | Jumps
Kings Mountain, North Carolina
It was jump after jump after jump for Jazmine Williamson at the NJCAA Region VI/Kansas Jayhawk Conference Championships, and her leaping amounted to 26 points as her Cougar team claimed team honors by just eight points over Cloud County (Kan.) CC.
Her jumpfest started off with fireworks as she put on a dazzling display in the long jump Friday, spanning a wind-aided 6.50m (21-4) with a series that also included a wind-legal 6.47m (21-2¾) that puts her No. 5 on the all-time NJCAA outdoor list.
Williamson returned to action Saturday with two runner-up efforts, bounding to an all-conditions best of 11.96mw (39-3w) in the triple jump – losing by two inches – then scaling an outdoor-best of 1.68m (5-6) in the high jump.
This is the 11th time that a female athlete from Barton has been named M-F Athletic National Athlete of the Week during the outdoor season. Williamson joins Cedricka Williams (three times this year), Kelsie Murrell-Ross (2022), Nia Robinson (once each in 2022 and 2021), Lashanna Graham (2021), Yoveinny Mota (twice in 2019) and Lydia Mato (2015) in that regard.
NJCAA DIVISION III MEN – Omar Mohamed, Mohawk Valley (N.Y.) CC
Sophomore | Distances
Utica, New York
It was a day like never before for Omar Mohamed at the NJCAA Region 3 Championships.
Four races, four wins – a total of 10,300 meters of racing.
In order, he won the steeplechase in 11:05.33 (winning by 32.91 seconds), 800 in 2:08.74 (by 0.32 seconds, his closest winning margin), 1500 in 4:33.39 (by 1.06 seconds) and 5000 in 17:28.74 (by 1:48.86).
This is the second time this season that Mohamed has been named M-F Athletic National Athlete of the Week.
NJCAA DIVISION III WOMEN – Trinity Ortiz, Finger Lakes (N.Y.) CC
Sophomore | Sprints/Jumps
Yonkers, New York
It’s track and field for Trinity Ortiz, who was three-for-three at the NJCAA Region 3 Championships.
Ortiz won the 100 meters in 12.96, and added titles in the high jump at 1.47m (4-9¾) and long jump at 5.25m (17-2¾).
She could compete in all three at this week’s NJCAA Division III nationals – she’s the national leader in the long jump (5.51m/18-1) and rates No. 4 in high jump (1.54m/5-0½) and No. 5 in the 100 (12.82) in addition to being No. 6 in the 200 (27.34w).
This is the second time that a female athlete from Finger Lakes CC has been named M-F Athletic National Athlete of the Week during the outdoor season. Ortiz joins Leah Lloyd (2023) in that regard.