January 13, 2025
National Athlete of the Week is an award selected and presented by the USTFCCCA Communications Staff at the beginning of each week to multiple collegiate Track and Field athletes, when applicable (male and female for each of the three NCAA divisions, the National Junior College divisions, and the NAIA).
Nominations are open to the public. Coaches and sports information directors are encouraged to nominate their student-athletes; as are student-athletes, their families and friends, and fans of their programs. Nominated athletes are noticed before those athletes found through searching TFRRS.
The award seeks to highlight not only the very best times, marks and scores on a week-to-week basis, but also performances that were significant on the national landscape and/or the latest in a series of strong outings. Quality of competition, suspenseful finishes and other factors will also play a role in the decision.
NCAA DIVISION I MEN – Auhmad Robinson, Texas A&M
Junior | Sprints | Spring, Texas
Auhmad Robinson only needed three-and-a-half laps this past weekend at the Texas A&M McFerrin 12 Degree Invitational to notch one all-time mark in the 300 meters and help the Aggies to an early-season collegiate lead in the 4×400 relay.
Robinson traversed 300 meters in 32.34 seconds to become the third fastest man in collegiate history behind Jacory Patterson (31.99) and Torrin Lawrence (32.32). That effort is the fourth fastest in collegiate history, as Patterson also notched a 32.28 effort back in 2020.
Later in the meet, Robinson toted the baton third on Texas A&M’s 4×400 relay that went 3:05.80 for the collegiate lead. Robinson split 46.92 to bring the Aggies back into contention.
This is the fourth time in program history – and the first time since 2017 – that a male athlete from Texas A&M has been named M-F Athletic National Athlete of the Week during the indoor season. Robinson joins two-time 2017 honoree Fred Kerley and 2016 honoree Donavan Brazier in that regard (Brazier and Kerley were both finalists for The Bowerman in those years).
NCAA DIVISION I WOMEN – Gladys Chepngetich, Clemson
Sophomore | Mid-Distance | Eldoret, Kenya
Gladys Chepngetich had an all-time debut this past weekend.
In her first track race of the season, Chepngetich won the 1000 meters at the Clemson Invitational in 2:39.99, which is the third fastest performance in collegiate history behind Danae Rivers of Penn State (2:38.58) and former Bradley standout Wilma Nielsen (2:38.95).
This is the first time in program history that a female athlete from Clemson has been named M-F Athletic National Athlete of the Week during the indoor season.
NCAA DIVISION II MEN – Joshua Caleb, Alaska Anchorage
Sophomore | Sprints Okrika, Nigeri
Joshua Caleb said hello to both the indoor season and the record book this past weekend at the Silver & Blue Invitational in Reno, Nevada.
Caleb tore up the track in his season opener, taking down a 30-year-old African U20 record in the 60 meters and clocking a world-leading and collegiate-leading mark in the 200 meters.
His 60-meter time of 6.57 bested the 6.58 effort that Ibrahim Meité of the Ivory Coast set back on February 13, 1994. No one came within 0.07 seconds of that mark indoors before Caleb took to the straightaway in Reno, Nevada.
Then Caleb turned one lap in 20.86, which sits atop the All-College Descending Order List by 0.07 seconds. That mark is also second on the Nigerian U20 all-time chart behind a 28-year-old best of 20.57 established by Francisco Obikwelu.
This is the first time in program history that a male athlete from Alaska Anchorage has been named M-F Athletic National Athlete of the Week during the indoor season.
NCAA DIVISION II WOMEN – Toni-Ann Lindsay, Academy of Art
Sophomore | Sprints | Portmore, Jamaica
Welcome to the record books, Toni-Ann Lindsay.
Following a monthlong hiatus, the Academy of Art product dashed her way to No. 19 all-time in NCAA Division II history, going 7.34 in the 60 meters at the Silver & Blue Invitational. Leading up to the race, Lindsay’s personal best was parked at 7.49, a time she had run on two separate occasions. The sophomore said goodbye to that notion with her 7.44 in the prelims and then stepped it up once again in the finals.
Among all else, Lindsay rewrote Urban Knight lore, surpassing 2012 Olympic Trials qualifier Vashti Thomas as the new program record holder.
This marks the first time in program history that a female athlete from Academy of Art has been named M-F Athletic National Athlete of the Week during the indoor season.
NCAA DIVISION III MEN – Jereme Ombogo, North Park
Junior | Sprints | Houston, Texas
Jereme Ombogo made up for lost time in his season opener.
Competing at the Wolverine Invitational, Ombogo clocked a division-leading 21.76 over 200 meters and also ripped a pair of sub-6.80 scorchers in the 60 meters, including a 6.78 PR that puts him second on the seasonal Descending order List.
Ombogo missed both the indoor and outdoor seasons last year due to a shoulder injury he suffered during the 2023 football season. The junior made quite the impact for North Park’s football team in 2024, catching 54 passes for 1016 yards and 13 touchdowns.
This is the first time in program history that an athlete from North Park has been named M-F Athletic National Athlete of the Week during the indoor season.
NCAA DIVISION III WOMEN – Alexis Boykin, MIT
Senior | Throws Clayton, Ohio
Alexis Boykin is ahead of schedule.
That’s bad news for the record book and the rest of NCAA Division III.
Boykin debuted in the shot put this past weekend at the Suffolk Relays and launched the implement a division-leading 14.50m (47-7) on her sixth and final attempt. Comparatively, Boykin threw 13.89m (45-7) at the same meet last year – a year in which she would eventually win four NCAA titles, including a sweep of the shot put slate.
That is now two division leads for Boykin, who also tops the seasonal Descending Order List in the weight throw from her 19.53m (64-1) heave at the Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener.
This is the third time in the past four years that Boykin has been named M-F Athletic National Athlete of the Week during the indoor season. Boykin previously earned national weekly honors on January 30, 2024 and January 11, 2022.
NAIA MEN – Barnabas Aggerh, William Carey (Miss.)
Sophomore | Sprints | Accara, Ghana
Thirty-six days.
That’s how long the NAIA indoor 60-meter record that Barnabas Aggerh set in early December lasted.
Aggerh scorched the Vanderbilt track in 6.52 at the Commodore Challenge, winning by 0.09 seconds over William Carey teammate Jaylyn Session, who at 6.61 was just off the 6.60 mark that Aggerh set at the Birmingham Indoor Icebreaker on December 6.
Aggerh’s 6.52 is also the season’s collegiate leader among sprinters from all divisions.
This is the second time that a male athlete from William Carey has been named M-F Athletic National Athlete of the Week in indoor track & field as Aggerh was so honored in December.
NAIA WOMEN – Ny’tierra Hobbs, Madonna (Mich.)
Senior | Sprints | Baltimore, Maryland
Ny’tierra Hobbs is now firmly in the NAIA lead in a pair of events after sweeping the 60 and 200 meters at Michigan’s Wolverine Invitational.
Hobbs started off in the 60 with a PR 7.42 victory that supplanted her 7.44 from December as the seasonal leader and – combined with a 7.48 in the prelims – gives her the three fastest times by an NAIA athlete in the event this season.
Some three hours later Hobbs won the 200 in 24.38, which is the No. 2 performance thus far in the NAIA behind only her list-leading 24.15 in December.
Hobbs was a four-time NAIA All-American (twice each indoors and outdoors) last year after transferring from NCAA DII West Virginia Wesleyan.
This is the first time that a female or male athlete from Madonna has been named M-F Athletic National Athlete of the Week during the indoor season.
NJCAA MEN – Yekini Bowen, Iowa Western CC
Sophomore | Throws | Westmoreland, Jamaica
Throwing multiple implements in a track & field meet is routine for Yekini Bowen, a double All-American in last year’s NJCAA DI Outdoor Championships in the shot put and discus.
Bowen is on pace to add a third event after PRing in the weight throw at Doane’s Scott Nisely Invitational in Crete, Nebraska. Bowen was runner-up at 18.30m (60-0½), eclipsing 18 meters for the first time with a mark that would have placed third in last year’s NJCAA Indoor Championships.
He followed up by winning the shot put at 16.02m (52-6¾). Bowen rates No. 2 on the early NJCAA indoor list in weight and No. 4 in the shot put.
This is the third that male athletes from Iowa Western have been named M-F Athletic National Athlete of the Week during the indoor season. Bowen joins Geoffrey Ronoh (2024) and the 2024 distance medley relay team in that regard.
NJCAA WOMEN – Maeva Goune Tibbolo, Iowa Central CC
Freshman | Jumps Lens, France
Maeva Goune Tibbolo’s first collegiate competition was a display of dominance as any of her four legal efforts in the long jump would have earned victory at St. Ambrose’s Battle in the Hive in Davenport, Iowa.
After opening with a leap of 5.97m (19-7), Goune Tibbolo followed with a foul and a mark of 5.75m (18-10½) before improving to 5.99m (19-8) in Round 4. After another foul, she finished with a lifetime best of 6.03m (19-9½). Her four measured jumps are also the four longest of the young NJCAA indoor season.
This is the 12th time that a female athlete from Iowa Central has been named M-F Athletic National Athlete of the Week during the indoor season. Goune Tibbolo joins Victoria Adu (twice in 2021), Rosalie Fish (2021), Eleonora Curtabbi (2020), Lea Grady (2020), Adva Cohen (three times in 2018), Agnes Mansaray (2017) and Leanne Pompeani (twice in 2016) in that regard.