Southland accolades roll in for Bearkats
2/22/2016 3:30:00 PM | Track & Field, Women's Track & Field
One week after capturing the program's first sweep of the Southland Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships, the awards continued rolling in for the Sam Houston men's and women's teams.
Highlighting the accolades included eighth-year head coach David Self being named men's and women's coach of the year and senior Danielle Demas earning athlete of the year following a 28-point performance at the indoor championships.
The Bearkats swept field athlete of the year honorees with Tyler Adams earning the men's honor and Ashley Jenkins taking home the women's accolade. Demas was also named women's track athlete of the year, meaning the Kats brought home a total of five awards.
“To have competitors in there that are truly the elite of the conference added on to the team championships truly reflect the level we are competing at,” Self said. “I know he didn't win, but Jeffrey Moore also deserves recognition. Science says you shouldn't be able to win the mile and come back just under an hour later and win the 800.”
For Demas, the accolades come following a pair of first-place finishes in the 60-meter hurdles and 60 meters and close runner-up spot in the 200 meters. The senior ranks 12th nationally in the 60-meter hurdles (8.18) and holds a pair of school records.
“It just tells you what level of athlete she is,” Self said. “You going into a very competitive conference meet and score 28 points and are close to scoring 30. She's our school-record holder in the 60-meter hurdles, was four-hundredths of a second away from the school record in the 60 meters and is the school-record holder in the 200 now. It's definitely a nice addition to a great senior indoor campaign.”
Meanwhile, Jenkins set a new Birmingham CrossPlex and Southland Conference indoor record by taking first in the weight throw. The senior places fourth nationally with her toss of 71 feet, ½ inch at New Mexico's Cherry & Silver Invitational earlier this spring.
“Ashley wasn't the big all-star thrower in high school,” Self said. “She just worked very hard to make herself one of the best weight throwers in the nation. It's great for her in that she's come so far. The fact she is at that level now, we're very proud of her.”
For Adams, the award follows a heptathlon victory, in which the sophomore tallied 5,277 points. His 1,000 meters time of 2:45.82 in the final event set a new conference record and comes after a season Adams spent recovering from injury.
“Tyler is an absolute workhorse,” Self said. “He spent the first six to eight weeks of the season recovering from injury where he didn't get to do anything. He had a procedure done and really didn't do a lot of stuff until November. For him to do the things he did and set another record in the heptathlon says a lot.”
According to Self, the accolade is a major step in the Bearkats continuing to be regarded among the elite in the Southland Conference, something both programs will work at heading into the outdoor campaign.
“When we go to the outdoor championships, people automatically put us in the mix with all that,” Self said. “That's where we want to be every year where people believe they will have to beat Sam Houston.”
