PITTSBURG, Kan. – Ursuline junior phenom Janelle Perry earned one of the most coveted honors prior to the start of the NCAA DII Indoor Track & Field Championships on Thursday, earning United State Track & Field Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) regional honors.
 
Perry was named the USTFCCCA Women’s Track Athlete of the Year for the Midwest Region at the NCAA’s banquet social.
 
Perry, a junior from Akron, Ohio, is ranked first nationally in the 60 hurdles with a time of 8.23, which put her in the top-10 in NCAA DII history. Over the next two days at Pittsburg's State Robert W. Plaster Center, Perry is entered in the 60 hurdles and the long jump.
 
She turned in a huge effort at the Great Midwest Indoor Championships at Hillsdale College, where she scored 35 of her team’s 89 points. At the conference meet, she broke the league’s records in both the 60-meter dash and 60-meter hurdles.
 
Perry was also selected as the Great Midwest Female Athlete of the Meet while also breaking an event record in the long jump.
 
Perry is seeking her first national title for the indoor season after bagging the 100-meter hurdles outdoor event last spring for an NCAA championship to call her own.
 
At last year’s NCAA DII Indoor Championships, her first national appearance, Perry earned All-American in both the pentathlon and the long jump.