PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Cincinnati’s Annette Echikunwoke and Houston’s Elijah Hall, along with the Cougars head coach Leroy Burrell and assistant coach Carl Lewis earned
U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) regional awards, as announced by the organization on Monday.
Echikunwoke was named Great Lakes Region Women’s Field Athlete of the Year, while Hall was named was named the men’s South Central Track Athlete of the Year. Burrell was named South Central Region Men’s
Coach of the year, and Lewis earned the men’s Assistant of the Year honor.
Burrell, in his 20th year at Houston, coached the Cougars to an American Athletic Conference Championship. Four of his athletes own top-10 NCAA Division I Descending Order List marks in their respective events on the season. Burrell and his staff were named the American Athletic Conference Coaching Staff of the Year.
Lewis, in his fourth year at Houston, saw four of his sprinter and jumpers rank amongst the top-10 of the NCAA Division I Descending Order List in their respective events.
Echikunwoke, who is set to throw in her third-consecutive NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships this Saturday, has put together another outstanding season as she leads the NCAA with a best of 24.78m (81-03.75) in the weight throw for the top mark in the nation and the best throw since the 2008 season. Her mark stands as the record in UC history, the American Athletic Conference and ranks her No. 2 all-time with the No. 4
performance all-time.
Hall ran the third-fastest time in the nation and the second-fastest time in school history in the 60-meter dash at 6.58 to win the Tyson Invitational earlier this season. At the Charlie Thomas Invitational, Hall broke his own school record in the 200 when he ran 20.51, the fifth-fastest time in the nation this season. He won both these events at the conference championships to earn the league’s Most Valuable Performance award.
Eleven student-athletes from Cincinnati, Houston and Wichita State will
represent the American Athletic Conference at the 2018 NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Indoor Track and Field Championships from March 9-10 in at Texas A&M’s Gilliam Indoor Track in College Station, Texas.