SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Western Carolina had a league-high three athletes garner post-championship awards, as voted on by the league’s track and field coaches following the 2016 Southern Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Cullowhee, N.C., the league office announced Wednesday. VMI claimed two award-winners, followed by ETSU, Furman and Samford with one apiece.
VMI’s Greg Henderson and WCU sophomore Henry Kiedy earned Most Outstanding Track Performer co-accolades on the men’s side, while Samford’s Sarah Sanford claimed the honor on the women’s side. Another Keydet, Jordan White, collected Most Outstanding Field Performer honors among the men, and Catamount Hailey Cook took the award for the women.
Furman’s Aaron Templeton captured the men’s Freshman of the Year award, and ETSU’s Kyra Atkins and WCU’s Bri Anna Adams took co-honors among the women.
Catamount coach Danny Williamson earned a men’s and women’s sweep of Coach of the Year accolades, marking the fifth time in the league’s history that a coach has recorded an outright sweep in the outdoor season. Williamson also accomplished the feat in 1999. This is his seventh men’s outdoor Coach of the Year honor and his eighth for the women’s outdoor season.
Henderson and Kiedy both turned in impressive performances on the way to men’s track honors. Kiedy won his second straight 400-meter dash title with a season-best time of 47.23 seconds and was an integral part of the Catamounts’ two relay squads, which both posted first-place finishes. Henderson won titles in the 100-and 200-meter dashes by clocking times of 10.578 and 21.71 seconds, respectively, which was the first time since 2004 that a Keydet took both of those races. He led the VMI men to a runner-up finish.
Sanford raced her way to a first-place finish in the 400-meter dash (55.32 seconds) and the 400-meter hurdles (1:00.6) to grab the women’s track award. She scored 30 points for the Bulldogs, tying her with Cook from WCU for women’s Most Outstanding Athlete kudos. The Samford women finished a close second to the Catamounts in the team competition.
White claimed the men’s field award after winning the hammer throw with a heave of 54.60 meters (179’ 2”). The redshirt junior from Owensboro, Ky., also earned podium positions in the discus throw (second) and shot put (third). He scored 24 points for the Keydets en route to Most Outstanding Athlete honors on the men’s side.
Cook ran away with the women’s field award with victories in the discus throw, hammer throw and shot put. The WCU junior was especially impressive in the discus, as her toss of 45.36 meters (148' 10") was a league-best mark during the outdoor season. Her win in the shot put, made possible by an effort of 14.71 meters (48’ 3.25”), gave the Catamount women a slim 1.5-point lead over Samford going into the final event of the day.
Templeton from Furman was named men’s Freshman of the Year after winning distance titles in the 5,000-meter and 10,000-meter runs, registering times of 14:51.45 and 31:10.79, respectively.
ETSU’s Atkins snagged women’s Freshman of the Year co-honors after putting her versatility on display in Cullowhee. She won the long jump with a leap of 5.64 meters (18' 6") and the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 13.42 seconds. WCU’s Adams recorded a second-place finish in the 200-meter dash and was a member of the Catamounts’ first-place relay squads.
Men’s Awards
Most Outstanding Track Performer (tie)
Greg Henderson, VMI, R-So.
Henry Kiedy, Western Carolina, So.
Most Outstanding Field Performer
Jordan White, VMI, R-Jr.
Freshman of the Year
Aaron Templeton, Furman
Coach of the Year
Danny Williamson, Western Carolina
Women’s Awards
Most Outstanding Track Performer
Sarah Sanford, Samford, So.
Most Outstanding Field Performer
Hailey Cook, Western Carolina, Jr.
Freshman of the Year (tie)
Kyra Atkins, ETSU
Bri Anna Adams, Western Carolina
Coach of the Year
Danny Williamson, Western Carolina
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