2017-18 Great Midwest All-Conference Indoor Track & Field Team (PDF)
INDiANAPOLIS – With the conclusion of the NCAA Division II Championships in Kansas, the Great Midwest Athletic Conference announced the official all-conference selections and year-end award winners.
The conference recognized men’s and women’s track athletes of the year, men’s and women’s field athletes of the year, the coaches of the year and a men’s and women’s freshman of the year.
All voting for the awards, different from athletes of the meet presented at Hillsdale, was conducted by the league’s coaches.
The top three place winners of each event at the Great Midwest Indoor Championships landed on either the first, second or third team all-conference team.
The Great Midwest celebrated a strong indoor campaign with a pair of national championship winners (Janelle Perry – Ursuline; Austin Combs – Findlay) with a total of 12 different NCAA All-American honors recorded at Pittsburg State.
Hillsdale’s women won the conference indoor team title while Findlay’s men secured the other trophy with the highest point total.
Men’s Indoor Track Athlete of the Year
Ashton Dulin – Malone
Dulin finished sixth at nationals in the 60-meter hurdles for NCAA All-American honors…His time of 8.00 flat in the finals was just 0.07 seconds off from his new conference record-breaking time of 7.93 clocked in the preliminaries…Dulin had bested his conference meet record and previous all-time best of 7.99 in the finals at the Great Midwest Championships….Dulin was conference champion in the 60-meter hurdles and 200-meter dash while finishing runner-up in long jump and third in the 60-meter dash.
Men’s Indoor Field Athlete of the Year
Austin Combs – Findlay
Combs made Great Midwest history as the first men’s indoor national champion in the weight throw…His national title-winning toss was 20.99m (almost 69 feet) and his fifth-best effort of the 2017-18 indoor campaign…He also took the podium for NCAA All-American honors with a fourth-place finish in shot put with a new Great Midwest record distance of 18.53m (60’ 9.5”)…Combs was the Great Midwest indoor champ in both throws events.
Men’s Indoor Freshman of the Year
Adam Bouchard – Kentucky Wesleyan
Bouchard set the tone early in the season in the high jump, breaking the conference record at the UIndy Season Opener for athlete of the week honors…He provisionally qualified for nationals with the attempt and has been consistent all season long in an event that features plenty of depth in the league…He was the first G-MAC student-athlete to clear two meters in the high jump…Bouchard was among a trio of jumpers to tie for the conference meet record at 2.04m cleared.
Men’s Indoor Track & Field Coach of the Year
Blaine Maag – Findlay
The interim tag was officially lifted from Maag recently as he helped coach Findlay to conference championship and national championship prominence…Three different NCAA All-Americans were crowned on the men’s side between Austin Combs and George Effah (400-meter run)…His men also broke a total of six conference meet records at Hillsdale…Maag is a former USTFCCCA Midwest Region Assistant Coach of the Year and is responsible for recruiting many of the student-athletes to UF.
Women’s Indoor Track Athlete of the Year
Janelle Perry – Ursuline
Perry lived up to the hype and delivered under pressure as the top seed going into the 60-meter hurdles at nationals…The junior now has an indoor national championship trophy to match her outdoor one from this past spring…Perry blazed to the top time in the nation at the Great Midwest Championships in Hillsdale and was consequently named the USTFCCCA Midwest Region Female Track Athlete of the Year…She ran an 8.22 in the finals, breaking her conference record by just one hundredth of a second…Perry blazed to victory in the 60-meter hurdles and 60-meter dash at Hillsdale.
Women’s Indoor Field Athlete of the Year
Janelle Perry – Ursuline
Perry’s national championship exploits on the track don’t overshadow her all-around athleticism as an auto qualifier in the pentathlon and a national title favorite in long jump…Perry would finish runner-up in the long jump at nationals by breaking her own all-time conference record with a distance of 6.19m (previous record by Perry was 6.02m)…She finished second only to West Texas A&M’s Rellie Kaputin (6.24m)…She won the conference indoor title in long jump and was fourth in high jump.
Women’s Indoor Freshman of the Year
Zalonya Eby – Hillsdale
Eby accounted for a considerable amount of team points as the Chargers made their run to the conference indoor women’s team title…She was first in the 200-meter dash and helped the Chargers win the 4x400-meter relay event…Eby also clocked second only to Ursuline’s Perry in the 60-meter dash finals.
Women’s Indoor Track & Field Coach of the Year
Andrew Towne – Hillsdale
Towne was recognized by his peers with a dominant team showing on the Chargers’ home track in the Biermann Athletic Center at the Great Midwest Championships…Hillsdale’s women accumulated 199 points, more than 100 over second-place Walsh…At nationals, Hillsdale’s women had four qualifiers travel to Kansas while entered in six different events…Senior Hannah McIntyre put the finishing touches on her indoor career with dual All-American honors in the 3K and 5K races.