Centre Sweeps SAA Women’s Outdoor Track & Field Athletes of the Year Honors

5/13/2024 3:00:02 PM

ATLANTA, Ga. (May 13, 2024) – Coming off a second-straight Southern Athletic Association Outdoor Track & Field Championship, Centre swept the conference’s Athletes of the Year awards.
 
Sprinter Madjo Doumbia was the Track Athlete of the Year while Jasmine Claunch was named the Field Athlete of the Year. First year Chloe Hein was voted the Newcomer of the Year. Head coach Lisa Owens was named the Coach of the Year at the conclusion of the SAA championship meet.
 
Doumbia earned two individual gold and a silver while running legs on two winning relay teams in leading the Colonels to their second straight championship. The junior won the 400m dash by nearly a full second, stopping the clock at 57.85 and came right back to finish second in the 100m dash. Her time of 12.04 seconds was just .01 seconds away from gold. Doumbia won the 200m dash 24.58 seconds, which ranks 21st in the country. She also ran legs on Centre’s winning 4x100 and 4x400 meter relay teams.
 
Claunch is ranked fourth in Division III in the triple jump with a leap of 12.38m at the Centre Invitational earlier in the year. The senior won the event at the SAA Championship with a jump of 12.28 meters. Claunch was runner-up in the long jump, covering a distance of 5.74 meters, the 21st best mark in the country. During the indoor season, she was named the Great Lakes Region Field Athlete of the Year and earned All-America honors in both long and triple jumps.
 
Hein set a conference record to highlight two individual medals at her first SAA Championship. The newcomer won the long jump in a record leap of 5.92 meters, putting her fifth on the national performance list. Hein was second in the 200 meter dash at the championship (25.05) and ran legs on the Centre winning 4x100 and 4x400 relay teams.
 
Owens has led the Colonels to back-to-back conference championships and was voted the Coach of the Year each of the last two seasons.
 
SAA Athletes will continue to post qualifying marks for the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championship, May 23-25 in Myrle Beach, South Carolina.