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Track & Field: Justin Victor Named Sun Belt Most Outstanding Indoor Field AthleteVictor Named Top Indoor Field Athlete; Sun Belt Releases Men s Indoor Track & Field Awards
NEW ORLEANS – The Sun Belt Conference announced its end of year awards for Men’s Indoor Track & Field on Friday, with Louisiana Ragin Cajuns standout Justin Victor earning the league s Most Outstanding Field Athlete in voting by the league s head coaches.
UT Arlington’s Emil Blomberg was named the Men’s Indoor Most Outstanding Track Athlete while Mavericks head coach John Sauerhage was tabbed as the Men’s Coach of the Year by his fellow peers. WKU’s Ventavius Sears was named the Men’s Freshman of the Year.
Victor claimed his sixth consecutive individual title of the indoor season and the biggest one for the Leesville, La. native when he recorded a school and SBC Championship-record throw of 69 feet, 0.75 inches to claim the men’s weight throw. The nation’s 14th-ranked performer trailed leader Darian Brown of Texas State after three throws before taking the lead on his fourth attempt.
Blomberg and Sauerhage of UTA were competing in the school’s first track and field championship and blew away the competition as the Mavericks claimed their first team title since 2000 by taking the crown at the SBC championship in record-setting fashion.
The Mavericks scored 185 points to outpace two-time defending champion WKU (149) by 36 points. The Mavs’ overall point total broke a 20-year-old conference meet record.
Blomberg, who took home high point scorer honors with 28 points by virtue of two wins and a runner-up showing, won a thrilling mile run with a time of 4:16.02. The top four finishers were separated by just .17, and he edged runner-up teammate Ryan Tilotta by .10.
WKU’s Sears was very versatile for the Toppers as he competed and scored in the long jump, triple jump, 60 and 200-meter dashes. His time in the 200-meter dash (21.28) was a new personal best for Sears and ranks fifth in WKU history.
The freshman finished the two-day meet with 16 points, the highest total of all freshmen who competed at the championships.
The NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championship fate of these individual winners will be determined next week as the NCAA gets set to release the final declarations for the 2014 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships set to be held March 14-15 in Albuquerque, N.M.
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