Huston Named National Field Athlete of the Year

NEW ORLEANS — Senior track and field athlete Ashley Huston has been named the National Division III Field Athlete of the Year by the United States Track and Field/Cross Country Coaches Association.

Huston won the Division III heptathlon and high jump at the recent NCAA Championships in Marietta, Ohio. She was also an All-American with a seventh-place finish in the long jump.

Huston scored 5,244 points in the heptathlon at the NCAAs, which was the second-best score ever posted by a Division III athlete.

In her only season to compete at the Division III level in track and field she produced three national titles (indoor pentathlon and outdoor heptathlon and high jump), and two more all-American nods with a fourth in the indoor high jump and seventh in the outdoor long jump.

She is the first Hardin-Simmons athlete to be the national player of the year since Kendra Anderson won the award in women’s basketball in 2003.


USTFCCCA Awards
Track Athlete of the Year – Sumer Rohrs – Frostburg State University
Rohrs, the USTFCCCA Mideast Region Athlete of the Year, won the 400 meter hurdles and 100 meter hurdles. She ran 60.05 in the 400 meter hurdles, and 13.77 in the 100 meter hurdles. Her 100 hurdle time was the fourth fastest time run in Division III history, and her 400 hurdle time was the tenth fastest time ever recorded in Division III.

Field Athlete of the Year – Ashley Huston – Hardin-Simmons University
Huston, a senior from Buffalo Gap, Texas, won both the heptathlon and high jump at the national meet. Her score in the heptathlon was 5,244 points, the second highest total in Division III history. Huston was also seventh in the long jump at the national meet

Assistant Coach of the Year – Travis Erickson – University of Wisconsin La Crosse
Erickson, who primarily coaches the jumps, had three athletes earn five USTFCCCA All-American honors, including a one-two-four finish in the long jump. Caitlin Schetter was the national champ in the long jump, and finished sixth in the triple. Katie Fondow finished second in both the long and triple jumps, while Ashton May finished fourth in the long jump.

Head Coach of the Year – Marcus Newsom – Wartburg College
Newsom led his Knights to their second Division III Outdoor National Title winning the meet with 52 points. The title was the first outdoor title for Wartburg since its 2005 national title. Wartburg’s athletes collected 14 USTFCCCA All-American honors and came away with three first-place finishes at the national meet.


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