2017 USTFCCCA Indoor Regional Award Winners

NEW ORLEANS -- With the NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field National Championships just days away, sophomore Mobolade Ajomale, head coach Kevin LaSure, and assistant coach Akil Gipson were honored by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). Ajomale earned his second consecutive West Region Track Athlete of the Year award, LaSure was selected Women's Head Coach of the Year, and Gipson followed with Women's Assistant Coach of the Year in Tuesday's announcement.

"It's always an honor to recieve awards like this," said LaSure "It is a true testament of all of the hard work our student-athletes put in on a daily basis both on and off of the track."

Each of the regions, which are the same as those used during the Division II cross country season, honored both genders' top track athletes and field athletes and the top men's and women's head coaches and assistant coaches. Award winners were determined by a vote of USTFCCCA member coaches.

Ajomale, who comes off a summer that saw him earn an Olympic bronze medal with the Canadian 4x100m relay team, is ranked in the top-five nationally in three different sprint events. In an incredible display of talent, the Multimedia Communications major not only claims the fastest times in both the 60m (6.64) and 200m (20.85), but he posted both less than an hour apart at the BU Last Chance Meet on Feb. 26. His 200m mark broke the normal-condition NCAA DII record. Ajomale is ranked fourth at 400m with a 47.25 that came at the UW Open on Feb. 12  and is a member of the team's top-40 4x400 relay.

LaSure, in his second year with the program, had 13 All-Region performers, as well as NCAA National Qualifiers in the 4x400 relay, high jump, pentathlon and triple jump. His athletes posted 20 NCAA Provisional Qualifying marks across nine different events.

Gipson, in his first year with the program, coached eight NCAA Provisional Qualifiers in the pentathlon, high jump, triple jump, and long jump. Three of those athletes, Marion Presigny, Rian Young-Werner, and Hannah Hensley, are ranked in the top-10 nationally and will compete at NCAAs in the pentathlon, triple jump, and high jump. Three of his athletes, Presigny, Hensley, and Folke Woch, each scored more than 3490 points in the pentathlon.

Many of the honored athletes and coaches will be in competition at the NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championships coming up this weekend, March 10-11, in Birmingham, Alabama at the Birmingham Crossplex. Portions of the meet will be streamed online live at NCAA.org and more information can be found at the USTFCCCA's National Championships Central page.