USTFCCCA Awards
By USTFCCCA Communications, USTFCCCA May 13, 2024   

M-F Athletic National Athletes of the Week (May 13, 2024)

NEW ORLEANS – We’re still in awe.

Here are our M-F Athletic National Athletes of the Week in collegiate track & field for May 13, 2024!

  • NCAA Division I Men – Tarsis Orogot, Alabama
  • NCAA Division I Women – McKenzie Long, Ole Miss
  • NCAA Division II Men – Jordan Davis, Southern Connecticut State
  • NCAA Division II Women – Denisha Cartwright, Minnesota State
  • NCAA Division III Men – Sam Blaskowski, UW-La Crosse
  • NCAA Division III Women – Gabriela Meschino, UChicago
  • NAIA Men – Michael Tatnall, Voorhees (S.C.)
  • NAIA Women – Alexia Schofield, Campbellsville (Ky.)

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 – Tarsis Orogot, Alabama

Junior | Sprints
Soroti, Uganda

Tarsis Orogot certainly did his part in helping Alabama match its best team finish in the past 44 years at the SEC Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

Orogot’s crowning achievement in Gainesville, Florida, came in the 200 meters, where he won the conference title in 19.75 for the third-fastest performance in collegiate history. The Alabama star now just trails Walter Dix (19.69) and Divine Oduduru (19.73) on the all-time chart.

Earlier in the meet, Orogot helped the Crimson Tide to a sixth-place finish in the 4×100 relay and took fifth in the open 100 in a 10.06 PR. Then, not long after he got off the track for the half-lapper, Orogot split 45.52 to assist Alabama in finishing runner-up in the 4×400 relay.

This is the second year in a row that Orogot has been named M-F Athletic National Athlete of the Week during the outdoor season. Orogot previously earned national weekly honors on April 18, 2023. Plus, at least one male athlete from Alabama has been nationally celebrated in each of the past three years (Eliud Kipsang snagged another plaudit for the Crimson Tide in 2022).

NCAA DIVISION I WOMEN – McKenzie Long, Ole Miss

Senior | Sprints
Ironton, Ohio

McKenzie Long won the race of the weekend in decisive fashion.

The Ole Miss standout took top individual honors in the 200 meters at the SEC Outdoor Track & Field Championships in 22.03, exactly 0.08 seconds clear of the field. That world-leading mark shattered the meet record and moved her up to No. 5 on the all-time collegiate chart. Her victory also made her the first female athlete to repeat as event champion since 2012 The Bowerman Kimberlyn Duncan won three in a row from 2011 to 2013.

What made that race so special? It had three NCAA champions from the 2024 indoor season in its coffers: Brianna Lyston of LSU (60 meters), JaMeesia Ford of South Carolina (200 meters) and Amber Anning of Arkansas (400 meters).

Earlier in the meet, Long ran the second leg of Ole Miss’s 4×100 relay that finished runner-up behind Tennessee in 42.47. The Rebels, who obliterated their own school record in the process, are now the seventh-fastest program in collegiate history.

This is the first time athlete an athlete from Ole Miss has been named M-F Athletic National Athlete of the Week during the outdoor season.

NCAA DIVISION II MEN – Jordan Davis, Southern Connecticut

Senior | Throws
Wallingford, Connecticut

Talk about the arm on this guy. 

As of May 13, Jordan Davis is still the collegiate leader in the javelin. Even better? He added to his repertoire of towering throws this past weekend at the 2024 NEICAAA Outdoor Championships with a 78.60m (257-10½) heave to collect the No. 3 mark in Division II history. 

After an initial toss of 74.55m (244-7), Davis struggled to find a rhythm. It wasn’t until his sixth and final attempt that he produced the gem.

This is the second time this season that Davis has been named M-F Athletic National Athlete of the Week. Davis previously earned national weekly honors on April 2. 

NCAA DIVISION II WOMEN – Denisha Cartwright, Minnesota State

Graduate Student | Sprints
Nassau, Bahamas

What can’t she do? 

Denisha Cartwright strung together one of the greatest performances in conference history at the NSIC Outdoor Track & Field Championships, rewriting the NCAA DII record books while she was at it. 

To no one’s surprise, it was in her signature event – the 100-meter hurdles – that she produced a new NCAA DII record at 12.60. The previous record by Vashti Thomas had stood for more than a decade and there wasn’t a soul within two tenths of a second. That is, until now.

Cartwright added 22.5 more points to Minnesota State’s total over the course of the afternoon, winning both the 100 meters (11.10) and 200 meters (22.71) and assisting on the winning 4×100 relay (45.26).

This is the second time this season that Cartwright has been named M-F Athletic National Athlete of the Week. Cartwright previously earned national weekly honors on April 29.

NCAA DIVISION III MEN – Sam Blaskowski, UW-La Crosse

Junior | Sprints
Oshkosh, Wisconsin

Sam Blaskowski is the fastest man in NCAA DIII history.

He proved it this past weekend in the fastest race in NCAA DIII history.

Blaskowski lowered his own division record in the 100 meters to 10.09 (+1.8). The UW-La Crosse standout needed every single millisecond of that mark, as Davian Willems of UW-Oshkosh was hot on his heels in 10.14 for the second-fastest mark in NCAA DIII history.

This is the second time this season that Blaskowski has been named M-F Athletic National Athlete of the Week. He previously earned national weekly honors on April 15 after he blistered a wind-aided 9.99 (+5.5) at the Beach Invitational in Long Beach, California.

NCAA DIVISION III WOMEN – Gabriela Meschino, UChicago

Senior | Sprints
Chicago, Illinois

Gabriela Meschino found her stride.

That might be putting it lightly, though.

Meschino ripped a wind-legal, 100-meter PR of 11.53 (+0.9) this past weekend at the St. Francis Fighting Chance Invitational that made her the second-fastest woman in NCAA DIII history behind record-holder Michelle Kwafo at 11.49. Prior to this past weekend, Meschino’s season best was a wind-aided 11.89 from the UAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

This is the second week in a row that an athlete from UChicago has been named M-F Athletic National Athlete of the Week. Ren Brown earned national weekly honors on May 6 following her record-setting performance in the 400-meter hurdles at the Billy Hayes Invitational.

NAIA MEN – Michael Tatnall, Voorhees (S.C.)

Sophomore | Triple Jump
Atlanta, Georgia

Michael Tatnall made the most of his final chance to impress before next week’s NAIA Outdoor Championships.

Any of his three best triple jump efforts would have won the event at the Mount Olive Final Qualifier, but his farthest jump was special – a PR 15.35m (50-4½), improving his standing as the wind-legal NAIA season leader in the event this year. In addition, his mark puts No. 19 on the all-time NAIA outdoor list.

This is the first time that a male athlete from Voorhees has been named M-F Athletic National Athlete of the Week during the outdoor season.

NAIA WOMEN – Alexia Schofield, Campbellsville (Ky.)

Junior | Sprints/Jumps
Miriama, Florida

Alexia Schofield was a literal point machine at the National Christian College Athletic Association Outdoor Championships in Columbia, South Carolina.

Winning three events and placing sixth in another event, Schofield scored 33 points for the Tigers, who finished runner-up in the team standings – just three points ahead of third place.

All four of Schofield’s performances were PRs – 23.67 in the 200, 1.56m (5-1¼) in the high jump, 6.01m (19-8¾) in the long jump and 12.42m (40-9) in the triple jump. She won the 200, LJ and TJ – all putting her in the top-5 nationally among NAIA athletes, with the triple jump mark doubling as the farthest wind-legal jump of the year.

This is the first time that a female athlete from Campbellsville has been named M-F Athletic National Athlete of the Week during the outdoor season.