SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Samford claimed four of the eight Southern Conference outdoor track and field individual awards between its men’s and women’s programs in a vote of the league’s head coaches following the SoCon Outdoor Track and Field Championships earlier this week. The Bulldogs swept the team titles, with the men winning their sixth crown and the women their seventh.
Coaches were not allowed to vote for their own student-athletes or themselves.
Samford’s Hannah Daffin claimed her third straight women’s Most Outstanding Field Performer honor, while the Bulldogs’ Cagan Campbell was named the men’s Most Outstanding Track Performer. Samford coach Rod Tiffin was named the women’s Coach of the Year and men’s Co-Coach of the Year.
Wofford claimed a women’s awards, with Jasmine Jefferson earning most Outstanding Track Performer.
VMI’s Keyandre Midgett was voted the men’s Most Outstanding Field Performer and Zack Scott was tabbed men’s Co-Coach of the year.
Furman earned a pair of awards as Owen Shifflet was named men’s Freshman of the Year and Lillian Feingold was voted women’s Freshman of the Year.
For the third straight season, Daffin scored the most points among field performers, improving to 28 total points this year. The senior from Mobile, Alabama, was named Most Outstanding Athlete after successfully defended a pair of titles, winning the hammer throw on Monday and the shot put on Tuesday, both for the third year in a row. She also finished third in the discus, an improvement from fifth the past two seasons. Samford has now won the women’s most outstanding field performer each of the last seven times it has been presented and nine times overall.
Campbell, who paced the men’s championship with 23 points to earn Most Outstanding Athlete honors, won four titles Tuesday. The graduate student from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, got his day started with a win in the 4x100-meter relay, running the anchor leg. Later that afternoon, he won his second consecutive SoCon champion in the men’s 400-meter dash and after that, he added a second-place finish in the 200-meter dash. He capped his day with a title in the 4x400-meter relay, running the fist leg of the race. Campbell claims Samford’s fourth men’s Most Outstanding Track Performer honor and the second consecutive after earning the honor last season.
Wofford’s Jefferson scored 25 points on the track en route to earning four gold medals, setting a SoCon Championship record, and earning Most Outstanding Track Performer honors. The senior from Knoxville, Tennessee, opened the final day of the meet by running the second leg of Wofford’s 4x100-meter relay, which the Terriers won for the fourth straight season. About an hour later, she claimed her second gold of the day and set a SoCon record in the 400-meter dash. Later in the afternoon she won the 200-meter, beating the defending champion. She capped her day running the second leg on the Terriers’ 4x400-meter relay earning her fourth gold medal of the day. Jefferson is Wofford’s third women’s Most Outstanding Track Performer and first since 2019.
Midgett becomes VMI’s second-ever men’s Most Outstanding Field Performer after totaling 20 points at the meet. The senior from Portsmouth, Georgia, opened his meet on Monday with a first-place finish in the long jump. On Tuesday, he started with a fourth-place finish in the 4x100 meter relay, running the third leg, and later that afternoon he won the triple jump.
Furman’s Shifflet led all SoCon freshmen in the men’s competition with 15 points scored at the conference championship. The rookie from Free Union, Virginia, earned a podium finish in his first SoCon outdoor meet, taking first-place in the 10,000 meters with a personal best time. He then added five points to his total, finishing fourth in the 5,000-meter race.
Furman’s Feingold scored 18 points at the SoCon meet and earned All-Freshman honors in both of her events. The Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, native led a 1-2 Paladin finish in the 10,000-meter on Monday, winning the twelfth title for the program in the event and setting a new personal best. Feingold also turned in a second-place finish in the 5,000-meter run on Tuesday during podium sweep by the Paladins.
Samford’s Tiffin was named the men’s Coach of the Year for the fourth straight season and ninth time overall after leading his squad to its fourth consecutive title. The Bulldogs scored 217 points, and claimed nine of the 21 event titles, en route to a 84-point margin of victory over runner-up VMI. Tiffin was also named women’s Coach of the year after leading the Bulldogs to their fifth consecutive title. The women accumulated 212.5 points, winning seven event titles, for an 82.5-point victory over second place Wofford.
Due to a tie in voting Zack Scott of VMI was also named men’s Coach of the year after leading VMI to the programs best finish since 2016. VMI won five title to accumulate 133 points for a second-place finish. This is the first Coach of the Year win for VMI since 2000.
Male Most Outstanding Track Performer
Cagan Campbell, Samford
Female Most Outstanding Track Performer
Jasmine Jefferson, Wofford
Male Most Outstanding Field Performer
Keyandre Midgett, VMI
Female Most Outstanding Field Performer
Hannah Daffin, Samford
Male Freshman of the Year
Owen Shifflet, Furman
Female Freshman of the Year
Lillian Feingold, Furman
Men’s Coach of the Year
Rod Tiffin, Samford
Zack Scott, VMI
Women’s Coach of the Year
Rod Tiffin, Samford