Johnson, Cazzola, Donnelly & Campbell Claim 2014 Outdoor T&F Division III National Athlete of the Year Honors

LATEST USTFCCCA NEWS
View on the web
Johnson, Cazzola, Donnelly & Campbell Claim 2014 Outdoor T&F Division III National Athlete of the Year Honors
May 28, 2014

NEW ORLEANS – With the 2014 Division III Outdoor Track & Field season having drawn to its conclusion at the NCAA Championships in Delaware, Ohio, member coaches of the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) have cast their votes for National Athletes of the Year.

Dual sprint champion Kevin Johnson of Baldwin Wallace ran away with the Men's Track Athlete of the Year honor, while three titles in three hours earned UW-Oshkosh's Christy Cazzola the same distinction in the women's competition.

Two-time throws champ Sean Donnelly of national champion Mount Union claimed the Men's Field Athlete of the Year award, while standout heptathlete Amelia Campbell of Carleton won the Women's Field Athlete of the Year accolade.

MORE INFO: Past Winners


Kevin Johnson,
Baldwin Wallace

Johnson, a senior from Maple Heights, Ohio, went out on top in his final collegiate meet with titles both at 100 and 200 meters in career-best fashion. He won the 100 meters crown in a wind-legal career-best of 10.50 by .04 over top-seeded Bruce Gray of Greenville – besting his one-day-old, wind-legal PR of 10.51 from the prelims.

Later in the afternoon he went sub-21 at 200 meters for the first time in his career to claim the national title in the event in 20.98. He won by .13 of a second over Chancise Watkins of La Verne after running the second-best time in the prelims at 21.19 – another career-best that stood for less than a weekend.

Earlier in the season he claimed titles in both of those events at the OAC Championships, along with a 4x100 relay crown.


Christy Cazzola
UW-Oshkosh

For the second consecutive year, Cazzola, a senior from Kaukauna, Wis., dominated the distance events at the NCAA Championships with wins at 1500 meters, 800 meters and 5000 meters all within the span of three hours on Saturday. Her title at 1500 meters was her fourth in a row, making her the first to win that event four times in outdoor women's DIII history and the fifth DIII woman to claim four career titles in a single event.

She pulled away on the final lap of the 1500 to start her final day with a win in 4:32.51 by more than two seconds over Luther's Tricia Serres. Ninety minutes later, she bettered her own Division III Championships record from last season at 800 meters in 2:05.23 to beat 2014 indoor 800 meters champion teammate Kylee Verhasselt by nearly two seconds.

Her weekend – as well as her stellar collegiate track & field career – wrapped up just over an hour later as she took the 5000 meters crown by three seconds over Cal Lutheran's Melissa Skiba in 16:29.96. The win marked her eighth career outdoor title, a total surpassed only by the nine from Rhondale Jones of Lincoln (Pa.).


Sean Donnelly,
Mount Union

Donnelly, a junior from Willoughby, Ohio, became just the second man in Division III history to win both the shot put and hammer throw national titles at the same championship meet, joining Eric Flores of Cal Lutheran in 2011. He also added a seventh-place finish in the discus after entering as the final man in the field.

His weekend started with a hammer throw title with a massive third-attempt heave of 216-7 (66.01m) that moved him past runner-up Tyler Williams of Widener into the No. 3 spot on the all-time Division III list. He defeated Williams by nearly three full feet, and was just over a foot shy of the meet record.

Though he only managed two attempts that weren't fouls in the shot put, but both were good enough to take the title, including a winning mark of 58-6½ (17.84m) on his fifth attempt that was the best in the field by more than two feet.


Amelia Campbell,
Carleton

Campbell, a sophomore from Sturgeon Bay, Wis., may have come up just shy of the NCAA Division III Championships heptathlon record, but nonetheless she was victorious in a heptathlon competition with four women better than 5000 points. For context, only five winners since 2000 have broken the 5000-point barrier.

Her score of 5221 was just 23 points shy of the Division III heptathlon record (new javelin) of 5244 set by Ashley Huston of Hardin-Simmons in 2009, marking the second-time she has broken the 5000-point threshold this season. She finished in the top two in four of the event's components, including the top time in the 100-meter hurdles.

Her runner-up showings at 200 meters (25.30) and 800 meters (2:15.38) were career-bests, as was her mark in the javelin. Her high jump and shot put marks were season's bests.




U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association
1100 Poydras Street, Suite 1750
New Orleans, LA 70163

Contact: Kyle Terwillegar
Communications Assistant
kyle@ustfccca.org
(504) 599-8905