LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. – After exclusive voting by the head coaches of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC), the league office today announced its 2017 Women’s Outdoor Track & Field postseason awards.
Katie Sandfort of Colorado College was selected as the Women’s Track Athlete-of-the-Year, while Meredith Berger of Texas Lutheran University and Ayriel Coleman of Trinity University shared Field Athlete-of-the-Year honors. Ashley Rynard of TLU earned Newcomer-of-the-Year honors, and the Trinity coaching staff rounded out the awards, earning Coaching Staff-of-the-Year.
Sandfort, a senior from Coppell, Texas, had a spectacular final season for the Tigers, establishing personal bests in the mile, 5,000 meter and 10,000 meter runs. At the conference championship meet, Sandfort won the 10K on Friday with a time of 39:08.49 before placing second in the 5K and winning the 1,500 the following day. She also qualified for the NCAA Division III championships in the 10K, where she placed third with a time of 35:04, earning All-American honors.
Sandfort was a unanimous Track Athlete-of-the-Year selection.
Berger, a senior from Weimar, Texas, was the high point scorer for the entire SCAC Championships, winning the shot put and hammer throw, while placing second in the javelin and fifth in discus.
Coleman, a freshman from Pampa, Texas, had a strong start to her college career, winning the triple jump at the SCAC championships and setting a new championship record. Coleman later qualified for nationals with a mark of 11.79 meters, which ranked 13th in the nation. She ended her season with a seventh-place finish at the national championship meet after jumping 11.98 meters, becoming Trinity’s first female freshman All-American.
Berger and Coleman each earned three votes for Field Athlete-of-the-Year.
Rynard, a freshman from Temple, Texas, earned Newcomer of the Year honors after posting a strong performance at the SCAC championships. Rynard won the 800 meters, while placing second in the 1,500 meters, third in the 4x400 meter relay and fourth in the 400-meter dash. She finished the season with a pair of TLU records.
Rynard earned three of the six possible votes, while Southwestern’s Jalynn Ashley earned two votes and University of Dallas’ Diana Hassink earned one.
Finally, the SCAC Women’s Track & Field Staff of the Year honor went to the Trinity staff after another strong season. The Tigers won the SCAC women’s track & field championship for the third consecutive year, defeating second place TLU by 49 points.
