The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association announced its regional honours on Friday afternoon (1 June).
Aleia Hobbs (Track Athlete of the Year) and head coach Dennis Shaver (Women’s Head Coach of the Year), both of the LSU track and field program, were the South Central Region award recipients for their respective categories.
It marks the second-consecutive year that Hobbs has attained this award. The senior from New Orleans is firing on all cylinders as she will compete for one last time for the Purple and Gold in Eugene, Ore., at the NCAA Championships. She has not lost a 100m dash or 4×100 meter relay race all season and she will be the heavy favourite in both of those events next week at the NCAA Championships.
In mid-May at the SEC Championships, Hobbs anchored the 4×100 squad of Mikiah Brisco, Kortnei Johnson, Rachel Misher and herself to the collegiate record with a time of 42.05 to claim gold at the conference meet.
Hobbs four sub-11 seconds
Individually, Hobbs has clocked four sub-11 second wind-legal 100m dash times in 2018 to set herself in a class of her own. Her season-best wind-legal time of 10.90 that she registered at the NCAA East Preliminaries in Tampa, Fla., is the third fastest to be recorded in the world in 2018.
Shaver, in his 14th year at LSU, led the Tigers to a runner-up finish at the SEC meet and has had them ranked inside the Top 10 all season long. He helped the aforementioned 4×100 meter relay squad set the collegiate record, and the LSU women’s squad has eight individuals scheduled to compete in Eugene next week.
The USTFCCCA honour for Shaver is the fifth of his career.
