THE CONNING TOWER by Keith Conning: 2015 NCAA Division III Athletes of the Year Announced

Thursday, March 19, 2015

2015 NCAA Division III Athletes of the Year Announced

Courtesy: Kyle Terwillegar, USTFCCCA

March 19, 2015

NEW ORLEANS – Following the 2015 NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field Championships this past weekend in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) announced Thursday the 2015 class of NCAA Division III National Athletes of the Year, as voted on by the coaches.
Mitchell Black of Tufts and Maryann Gong (Granada HS, Livermore, CA) of MIT were named the Men’s and Women’s Track Athletes of the Year, respectively, while Dominique Neloms of UW-La Crosse and Gladys Njoku of Stevens earned the Men’s and Women’s Field Athlete of the Year Awards.
At the NCAA Championships, Black – a junior from Brunswick, Maine – won the national title at 800 meters by more than a second over Lebanon Valley’s Michael Harnish and by more than two seconds over the rest of the field in 1:51.94.
During the regular season, Black ran 1:49.16 at the Valentine Invitational to move up to No. 4 on the all-time Division III indoor performers list in the event. He is one of just seven men in the history of Division III indoor track to have gone sub-1:50. He also won New England Division III Championships titles at 1000 and in the 4×800 relay.
Gong came within seconds of winning three titles at the NCAA Championships, but settled with a national title at 3000 meters, a runner-up finish as the anchor of the distance medley relay and a third-place effort in the mile.
She won the 3000 by more than a second over Abrah Masterson of Cornell College in 9:47.62. In the mile she was just over a second behind winner Alison Maxwell of Middlebury in 4:57.42, and MIT squad came up two seconds short of the title in 11:47.43. Gong closed what had been an approximately eight-second gap when she got the baton in fourth-place to take the lead on the final lap, but ultimately lost out to St. Thomas (Minn.).
Her regular season was historic, running the No. 4 time in Division III history at 3000 meters in 9:33.49 – the fastest time since 2007 – and running a leg of the seventh-fastest DMR in Division III history in 11:36.78 to win the NEICAAA Championships.
She won the NEICAAA mile title in 4:49.61, good for the fastest time of the Division III season. Without conversions, her 4:51.12 to win the New England DIII Championships was the top seed for qualifying.
Neloms, a senior from Joliet, Illinois, became the first man since 1994 to win both the long jump and the high jump at the same NCAA Division III Indoor Championships. He took the long jump on Friday with a leap of 24-1¼ (7.37m) to win by 21 centimeters over triple jump champion Jamie Ruginski of Southern Maine.
The next day he won the high jump on misses with a height of 6-11 (2.11m), clearing both 2.04m and 2.08m on third attempts but getting the deciding 2.11m height on his first attempt, while Steven Vazquez of RIC cleared the previous two heights on first attempts but needed two at 2.11m, giving Neloms the win.
During the regular season, Neloms cleared a height of 7-1½ (2.17m) to win the WIAC high jump and move him into a share of the No. 9 spot on the all-time DIII performers list. He won both the long jump and high jump at those WIAC Championships, and was fifth in the triple jump.
Earning the Women’s Field award was another high jumper in Stevens’ Njoku. The junior from Cedar Grove, New Jersey, won a dramatic high jump competition on misses as both she and Cortland State’s Taylor Hudson cleared 5-7¾ (1.75m) on their first attempts. Njoku, however, cleared all three of her bars on first attempts, including the crucial 1.69m height at which Hudson needed two attempts.
During the regular season, she moved to a share of the No. 4 spot on the all-time Division III indoor high jump list with a clearance of 5-10¾ (1.80m) at the Ramapo Indoor Select. In total, she was 8-0 against Division III high jump competition this season, with six wins among those events.