Four receive Track & Field Athlete of the Year honors
Angelo State's Aisha Adams and Adree Lakey, Tarleton State's Jared McNeil and Abilene Christian's Camille Vandendreissche were selected as the 2009 Lone Star Conference Track & Field Athletes of the Year. The awards were announced Tuesday following a vote of the league's head coaches.
The Texans McNeil was the male track recipient and the Wildcat's Vandendreissche was voted top male field athlete, while the Rambelles duo of Adams and Lakey claimed the top female track and field honors, respectively.
Vandendreissche guided ACU to a second place finish at the 2009 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships, while Adams and Lakey led ASU to their best finish in school history as runner-up on the women's side.
McNeil finished sixth in the 1,500-meter run at the national meet with a time of 3:54.07. He was named conference's top track athlete - winning the Cap Shelton Award for the second straight season after winning the 5,000-meter and finishing second in the 1,500 at the LSC Championships.
Vandendreissche posted a personal-best 7,674 points in the decathlon to earn a record-setting third straight NCAA Division II national championship. With the victory, he became the first athlete in NCAA Division II history to win three straight multi-event championships, the third athlete in NCAA history to win three straight multi-event titles, and only the fourth athlete in NCAA history to win three multi-event titles in a career.
Adams won the national title in the heptathlon with a personal-best 5,586 points. She became the ninth female to win a national title at ASU and just the second to ever win the heptathlon. Adams held a 128-point lead after the first day of competition and added a first and a second place finish in day two. She also competed in six other events - high jump, 100-meter hurdles, 400-meter hurdles (finished 2nd), long jump (2nd), triple jump and 4x400 meter relay - at the meet.
Lakey was the meet's top point scorer with 29 points, placing in the top four in all four throwing disciplines. Already a two-time national champion, Lakey added her third national title this year as she captured the crown in the shot put with the fifth-best throw in Division II history at 52'10". Lakey placed second in the discus, third in the hammer and fourth in the javelin in 2009 to end her career as an 11-time All-American at ASU. She claimed the national title in the hammer throw as a sophomore in 2007 and in the discus throw as a junior in 2008.
