Former Vere Technical sprinter Rene Medley was last week named US Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Women’s Division 2 Indoors Track Athlete of the Year after her successful senior season at Lincoln University in Missouri, USA.

Medley, who also attended Western Texas College before moving to Lincoln, where Jamaican Harold Thomas is the head coach, finished the indoors season with the top times.

“Medley took the 60m in 7.37 seconds, and won the 200m in 23.57 seconds, with both times being automatic qualifiers,” according to the Lincoln University track and field website.

She was one of three Jamaicans who were nominated for the USTFCCCA honours, including University of Tennessee’s Carey McLeod and Medley’s teammate Ryan Brown, who were shortlisted for the men’s field athlete of the year for the Division 1 and Division 2, respectively.

McLeod, who won the Class One long and triple jump double in 2017 after transferring to Kingston College and who is a sophomore, produced a personal best 8.19m to win the long jump at the South Eastern Conference (SEC) in February, and was named the SEC Men’s Field Athlete of the Year.

His mark saw him move into the number 17th position on the NCAA Collegiate all-time list, up from number 25th. It was a University of Tennessee programme record and the facility record for the Texas A&M University indoors arena.

He was also second in the triple jump with 16.59m.

Brown, who also attended GC Foster College, “ended the 2019-20 season leading NCAA Division 2 in both the long jump and the triple jump, posting automatic qualifying distances in each event”.

Brown’s distance of 7.77m, set at the Hoosier Open, leads the nation in the long jump. In the triple jump, his distance of 15.87m, also set at the Hoosier Open and tops the country and won the triple jump while taking third in the long jump at the MIAA Indoor Track & Field Championships.

— Paul Reid