NEW -- BYU track and field earned five U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Mountain Region Awards, including men’s and women’s Coach of the Year, men’s Assistant Coach of the Year, women’s Track Athlete of the Year and women’s Field Athlete of the Year.
In his 25th season, Mark Robison garnered Coach of the Year honors after the No. 5 Cougars won the Mountain West Championships for the ninth-straight time and did so by over 70 points. BYU scored five conference titles, and, after the league meet, was placed in the nation’s top five as a team.
BYU was able to win its ninth consecutive MWC Indoor title with the assistance of the Ed Eyestone coached distance runners. Eyestone was recognized as the Mountain Region Assistant Coach of the Year and has athletes ranked top 50 in the 800, mile (No. 2 runner), 3K, 5K and DMR (No. 3 team)
In his first season at the helm of the BYU women’s track and field team, head coach Patrick Shane led the Cougars to their third consecutive MWC title and a top ten national ranking, prompting Coach of the Year honors. Shane coached the distance runners for 29 seasons before taking the head job in 2011.
Katie Palmer, a junior from Boulder City, Nev., won the Mountain Region track athlete of the year after winning the mile and placing sixth in the 800 meters at the MWC Championships. In the preliminary rounds of the 800m she achieved an altitute-converted time of 2:04.02, the second-fastest time recorded in the NCAA this season and an MWC meet record.
The Mountain Region field athlete of the year went to Ada Robinson, a junior from Centerville, Utah. Robinson ranks third in the NCAA with her season best high jump of 1.86m (6-1.25) and won the MWC high jump crown by clearing 1.85m (6-0.75).
Both the men’s and women’s teams will head to College Station, Texas on March 11-12 to compete in the NCAA Indoor National Championships.