DALLAS – Rice’s Michelle Fokam was named the Conference USA Women’s Field Athlete of the Year for the third time in her stellar career, Middle Tennessee’s Kigen Chemadi, who won an NCAA individual outdoor title in the 3000m steeplechase, was selected as the Men’s Track Athlete of the Year for the second time in his career, while Rice’s Grace Forbes (Women’s Track) along with Charlotte’s Terrell Adams and UTEP’s Paulo Benavides (Men’s Field) round out the 2021 winners of the Conference USA Track & Field Athletes of the Year awards.
 
All awards were voted on by the league’s head coaches and take into account the student-athlete’s performances from both the 2021 indoor and outdoor seasons.
 
Men’s Track Athlete of the Year – Kigen Chemadi, Middle Tennessee, Sr., Ainbkoi, Kenya
Chemadi, the 2019 C-USA Men’s Track Athlete of the Year, won the NCAA outdoor 3000m steeplechase with a Middle Tennessee-record time of 8:20.20. He won the 3000m steeplechase at the C-USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, and he was third in the 5000m. At the C-USA Indoor Championships, he ran the 3000m in 8:12.31 to capture the gold medal in the event and took third in the 5000m. The senior from Ainkobi, Kenya was named the C-USA Outdoor Men’s Track Athlete of the Week on May 5.
 
Men’s Co-Field Athlete of the Year – Terrell Adams, Charlotte, GS., Raleigh, N.C.
Adams earned first team All-America honors in the discus as he finished eighth at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. He won a pair of gold medals at the C-USA Outdoor Championships in both shot put and discus and was first team all-C-USA in both events. It was his’ third-straight C-USA discus outdoor title. The graduate student from Raleigh, North Carolina had a school-record discus throw at the NCAA East Preliminary Round for fifth in the region to qualify for the NCAA Outdoors. He won the discus event in five of six regular season events as well as the C-USA Outdoor Championships. He won the gold in shot put at the C-USA Indoor Track & Field Championships.
 
Men’s Co-Field Athlete of the Year – Paulo Benavides, UTEP, GS., El Paso, Texas
Benavides capped his collegiate career as an All-American first team performer in the pole vault at the NCAA Outdoor Championships with a seventh-place finish. He cleared the bar with a collegiate personal-best 5.45m (17-10.5) leap at the NCAA West Preliminary Round to place second. The graduate student from El Paso, Texas won gold at the C-USA Outdoor Championships with a 5.36m (17’-7”) vault. He also took first place at the Don Kirby Tailwind Open.
 
Women’s Track Athlete of the Year – Grace Forbes, Rice, So./Fr., Wallingford. Pa.
Forbes earned first team All-America honors at both the NCAA Outdoors (10,000m-7th) and the NCAA Indoors (5000m-6th). She won the 10,000m at the NCAA West Preliminary Round to qualify for the NCAA Outdoors. The outdoor freshman/indoor sophomore from Wallingford, Pennsylvania swept the C-USA Female Outdoor/Indoor Track Performer of the Meet Awards by winning a combined six titles. She also broke a combined five school records (Outdoor: 1500m, 10,000m; Indoor: Mile, 3000m and 5000m). Forbes was named USTFCCCA National Athlete of the Week on February 23, and she won 10 individual events.
 
Women’s Track Athlete of the Year – Michelle Fokam, Rice, Sr., Katy, Texas
Fokam, the 2018 and 2019 C-USA Women’s Track Athlete of the Year, won the award for third time in her career after she earned first team All-America honors with a third-place finish at the NCAA Outdoor Championships as she broke the school record with a leap of 14.04m (46’-0.75”) in the triple jump. She placed fifth in the triple jump at the NCAA West Preliminary Round. The senior from Katy, Texas was named the C-USA Female Outdoor Field Performer of the Meet after winning both the triple jump and long jump, her ninth and 10th C-USA titles of her illustrious career. She also won the triple jump at the C-USA Indoor Championships and placed second in the long jump. She earned 13 victories during the indoor and outdoor seasons in 2021.