J'can coach, athletes cop regional indoor awards

BY PAUL BURROWES Observer writer

Monday, March 07, 2011

Jamaican athletes Leford Green, Indira Spence, Nyoka Cole, along with Victor Thomas, head coach of Lincoln University at Missouri, have been awarded athletes and coach of the year for their respective regions in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division II Indoor season by the US Track and Field Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).

Green of Johnson C Smith was named Atlantic Region Men's Track Athlete of the Year. A senior from St Catherine, Jamaica, he heads into the NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field Championships with the fastest time in the 400 metres at 47.03 seconds and as anchor leg on the Golden Bulls second-ranked 4x400m relay.

Earlier this season the 24-year-old Green won the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) 400m title and anchored the mile relay team to third place.

Spence of Adams State College was the Central Region Women's Track Athlete of the Year. A junior from Trelawny, Spence achieved the NCAA automatic qualifying marks in the 60m, 60m hurdles, and 200m during the 2011 indoor season.

She also took the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) Track Athlete of the Year honours. The Vere Technical past student, however, will focus on the 60m and the 60m hurdles at the NCAA Indoor Championships on March 11-12 at Albuquerque, New Mexico, to become one of three student athletes to attempt the sprint/hurdle double.

Cole of Lincoln University at Missouri was the South Central Region Women's Track Athlete of the Year. The 25-year-old posted the fastest time over the 400m (54.86sec) in division two this year, while in the 60m and 200m was ranked in the top six.

A key member of the Blue Tigers number two ranked 4x400m relay team this junior from Mandeville and Holmwood Technical past student captured the 400m at the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics (MIAA), was third in the 60m and fourth in the 200m which helped Lincoln win the overall team title.

Coach Thomas, meanwhile, also of Lincoln University at Missouri, was named South Central Region Women's Head Coach of the Year. Spearheaded by Thomas, the number two ranked Blue Tigers will have 12 spots in the NCAA Indoor Championships. Lincoln University also won the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) by 32 points this season and won four events in the process.

This will be the fourth straight year (and seven times overall) that Thomas has been named coach of the year. The Blue Tigers are defending champions of the NCAA Indoor Division II title.

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J'can coach, athletes cop regional indoor awards