NEW ORLEANS – National honors from USTFCCCA were awarded to Texas A&M junior Lindon Victor and Aggie assistant coach Kris Grimes after each had been recognized for South Central region awards a week ago.
The USTFCCCA men’s Field Athlete of the Year honor went to Victor while Grimes was named the men’s Assistant Coach of the Year.
Victor became the first Texas A&M athlete to win a NCAA decathlon title when he produced a score of 8,379 points to defeat a field that included five scorers over 8,000 points. The deep field also generated the best score for place in second through 10th place.
Following his career best score of 8,446 to win the SEC title, which ranks fourth on the all-time collegiate list, Victor’s tally in Eugene became the fifth best performance all-time. It was also the second best score in a NCAA meet, with only Ashton Eaton’s score of 8,457 in 2010 being better.
During the SEC Championships, Victor threw the discus 179 feet to record the best throw by a collegian during a decathlon. In the NCAA competition his discus throw of 175-5 set the meet record within the decathlon and it was also the best performance at Hayward Field among any decathlon ever held at the venue.
Coach Grimes guided a pair of athletes to national titles with Latario Collie claiming the triple jump off an opening round mark of 55-8 ¼ along with Victor’s decathlon win. In addition Lathone Collie finished seventh in the triple jump as the trio of athletes combined for 22 points in the NCAA meet.
The women’s Field Athlete of the Year was awarded to Georgia’s Keturah Orji, who set an American record of 47-8 to win the NCAA triple jump. Track Athlete of the Year honors went to Jarrion Lawson of Arkansas and Courtney Okolo of Texas.
National Coach of the Year honors went to Florida’s Mike Holloway and Lance Harter of Arkansas as they claimed the men’s and women’s team titles, respectively, during the NCAA Championships. Joining Grimes in receiving an Assistant Coach of the Year award was Oregon’s Curtis Taylor, who was awarded the women’s honor.
