The Barton Community College track and field program picked up a trio of post-season awards in addition to, 48 All-America awards distributed by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) for the outdoor season.
Headlining the honors was freshman Christopher Young in being named not only the Central Region, but the National Men's Field Athlete of the Year. Joining Young on the Central Region awards list were David Schenek being named Men's Coach of the Year with Emmanuel Dixon being named the Women's Assistant Coach of the Year.
Award winners were determined by a vote of USTFCCCA member coaches prior to the NJCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships held May 18-20 in Hobbs, New Mexico. Only those individuals from USTFCCCA member programs are eligible for awards.
Young went into the national meet ranked No. 1 in the javelin, No. 2 in the shot put, No. 3 in the discus, and No. 5 in the hammer. At the Region VI Championships, Young won the Javelin while finishing runner-up in the shot put, adding third placings in each of the discus and hammer to earn High Point Athlete of the Meet honors after contributing 30 points towards the Cougars' 24th Region Outdoor title.
On the national stage, Young contributed 32 points towards Barton's 3rd place finish at the 2023 NJCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships including national titles in the shot put (18.63m, 61-01.50) and javelin (63.96m, 209-10). Posting personal best efforts in three of his four events, Young also came away with a pair of third places in the discus (59.68m, 195-10) and hammer (55.55m, 183-4).
During the season Young made impacts on the storied Barton record books, ranking 3rd in the javelin, 3rd in the discus, and 3rd in the shot put while his best hammer throw of his initial collegiate season was just nineteen inches short of entering the Cougars' top ten all-time best marks.
In NJCAA history, Young ranks No. 9 all-time in the shot, No. 10 in the discus, and No. 11 on the modern day javelin list.
For Schenek, the men's head coach honor follows an indoor season in being named the women's head coach region award winner and is his 17th USTFCCCA award since 2015. Schenek's men's team most recently captured the program's 24th Region VI Outdoor title before again leading the region with a 4th place national ranking.
The Cougars clinched the Region VI crown with an impressive 27 national qualifiers, including a national leader in the javelin event.
On the national stage the Cougars finished 3rd overall behind 15 scoring performances and 15 personal and/or season bests with five impacts on the storied Barton all-time top ten lists.
Now into his second year as assistant coach, Dixon has his second straight women's outdoor regional honor.
Dixon's athletes contributed 67 of the 183.5 points to the Cougars' 32nd Region VI outdoor title. During the meet Dixon's athletes earned championships in the 100m and the 4x100m relay contributing to eighteen Top-3 placings among their twenty-nine scoring performances with two making impacts on the program record book.
Having 13 of Barton's national qualifiers, most recently Dixon's athletes helped the Cougars to a 3rd place national finish including his 4x100m relay team clocking the program's 5th fastest ever time to capture the national title.
In other coaching awards given out by USTFCCCA, former Barton coach Keith Blackwill, now into his 18th year leading the New Mexico Junior College program, was named the West Region's Women's Head Coach of the Year followed by both the National men's and women's coach of the year as his T-Birds captured both national titles.
Barton's men placed 3rd at the National Championships, finishing among the top three for the sixth straight year at the national meet as the women also placed 3rd marking the sixth straight season of placing in the top five.
The Cougars compiled 48 All-America awards by virtue of finishing among the top-8 in an event, including as a member of a relay team, at the 2023 National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
All-America Awards (Women)
The Barton women bettered last year's performance at the National meet in accumulating 92.50 points on twenty-seven All-America performances between thirteen Cougars led by the four awards earned by sprinters Naiya Morgan and Oarabile Tshosa which included a national title in a program fifth fastest 4x100m relay time.
Kay-Lagay Clarke: 100m Hurdles (6th), Triple Jump (7th) – 5pts
Ana Couto: Heptathlon (4th) – 5pts
Treneese Hamilton: Shot Put (4th), Hammer Throw (7th), Javelin (5th) – 11pts
Brittania Ingram: Long Jump (4th) – 5pts
Efe Latham: Hammer Throw (3rd) – 6pts
Naiya Morgan: 100m (7th), 200m (8th), 4x100m Relay (1st), 4x400m Relay (7th) – 15pts
Kelsie Murrell-Ross: Shot Put (1st), Discus Throw (5th) – 14pts
Danae Nembhard: 100m Hurdles (3rd), 4x100m Relay (1st) – 16pts
Kayleigh Prentiss: Heptathlon (6th) – 3pts
Oarabile Tshosa: 100m (4th), 200m (3rd), 4x100m Relay (1st), 4x400m Relay (7th) – 23pts
Antiana Walsh: 4x100m Relay (1st), 4x400m Relay (7th) – 12pts
Dy'Mond Wiley: 400m (8th), 4x400m Relay (7th) – 3pts
Jazmine Williamson: High Jump (4th), Long Jump (3rd) – 10.5pts
All-America Awards (Men)
On the men's side, Barton also bettered their last year's Nationals totals in compiling 79.50 points behind twenty-one All-America award performances between ten Cougars led by the four awards each earned by sprinter Almond Small and thrower Christopher Young including a pair of national titles.
Fabian Campbell: 4x400m Relay (4th) – 5pts
Aaron Charles: 4x100m Relay (4th) – 5pts
Christopher Crawford: Shot Put (2nd), Discus Throw (6th) – 11pts
Brandon Lloyd: Shot Put (7th), Discus Throw (1st), Hammer Throw (7th) – 14pts
Jalen McGee: High Jump (7th) – 1.50pts
Elijah Mosley: 400m (4th), 4x100m Relay (4th), 4x400m Relay (4th) – 15pts
Jayden Singleton: 4x100m Relay (4th) – 5pts
Almond Small: 100m (7th), 200m (5th), 4x100m Relay (4th), 4x400m Relay (4th) – 16pts
Revon Williams: 4x400m Relay (4th) – 5pts
Christopher Young: Shot Put (1st), Discus Throw (3rd), Hammer Throw (3rd), Javelin (1st) – 32pts