Track & Field

TF: C-USA 2022 Athletes of the Year Announced

DALLAS – Rice’s Grace Forbes was named the Conference USA Women’s Track Athlete of the Year for the second time in her stellar career and UTEP’s Jevaughn Powell, who earned First Team All-American status in the 400m, was selected as the Men’s Track Athlete of the Year. Southern Miss high jumper Corvell Todd earned the Men’s Field Athlete of the Year honor while Middle Tennessee’s Abigail Kwarteng was named the Women’s Field Athlete of the Year to round out the 2022 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 2022 indoor and outdoor seasons.
 
Men’s Track Athlete of the Year – Jevaughn Powell, UTEP, So., Clarendon, Jamaica
Powell, a two-time C-USA Athlete of the Week, earned First Team All-America honors at the 2022 NCAA Outdoor Championships as he finished seventh in the 400m final to become the first Miner since 1983 to earn first team honors in the men’s 400m. Powell’s time of 44.87 at the NCAA West Prelims was a career-best earning him a spot in Eugene and was a top 10 time nationally. He also earned All-C-USA honors in the 400m finishing as the champion in outdoor and placing second in the 200m and the 4x400m. Powell placed second at the indoor championship in the 400m and ran a leg of the silver medalist 4x400m relay team at the meet.
 
Men’s Field Athlete of the Year – Corvell Todd, Southern Miss, Jr., Byhalia, Miss.
Todd was the national runner-up in the high jump during the indoor season, clearing a personal-best height of 2.29m (7-6) to earn First Team All-American honors. He followed that by finishing 10th at the NCAA Outdoor championships for Second Team All-America status. The junior won the 2022 C-USA Indoor Championship title in the event and his outdoor clearance of 2.22m (7-3.25) ranked as the eighth-best in the nation. He was also named the Male Field Co-Performer of the Meet at the league’s indoor championships.
  
Women’s Track Athlete of the Year – Grace Forbes, Rice, So., Wallingford. Pa.
Forbes, the reigning C-USA Track Athlete of the Year, earned her second-straight First Team All-America honors at the NCAA Outdoors in the 10,000m, finishing as the national runner-up with a time of 32:48.07. It was the highest finish by an Owl at the outdoor championships since 2001. She's finished in the top two in all four of her 10,000m races during the outdoor season and had the fastest time in the event out of both the west and east preliminary meets. Forbes also claimed the 5,000m and 10,000m titles at the C-USA Outdoor Championships, giving her nine individual titles on her career across the indoor and outdoor seasons.
 
Women’s Track Athlete of the Year – Abigail Kwarteng, Middle Tennessee, Gs., Bekwai, Ghana
Kwarteng most recently finished as the national runner-up in the high jump at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. The 2022 C-USA Outdoor high jump champion also finished third in the triple jump at the league’s outdoor meet. Her outdoor clearance of 1.92m (6-3.5) tied her Ghana national record and the Middle Tennessee program record en route to earning First Team All-American honors.  Her clearance was also the third best during the outdoor season.