Twelve student-athletes from the East Texas A&M University track and field teams earned all-Southland Conference recognition following their performances at the SLC Outdoor Championships, including a pair of superlative awards.

Highlighting the honors for the Lions are Ibrahim Fuseini (Accra, Ghana), who earned the conference’s Athlete of the Year award to go along with being the Outstanding Running Events performer and the Most Valuable Performer at the outdoor meet, while Armani Modeste (Castries, Saint Lucia) was named the co-Newcomer of the Year.

Fuseini put together an impressive season for East Texas A&M as he went 4 for 4 in winning conference championships at the meet in Houston, being part of two school record and one Southland meet record performance as well. He won the 100 meter dash, 200 meter dash, 4×100 meter relay, and 4×400 meter relay, setting the school record in the 200 meter dash and the 4×100 meter relay, and breaking the Lions’ SLC meet record in the 4×100 meter relay as well.

Modeste ran alongside Fuseini in the 4×100 meter relay and 4×400 meter relay, winning gold in both races, while also scoring points for the Lions in the 200 meter dash (fourth) and the 400 meter dash (seventh).

Along with the individual honors, the conference also announced the all-conference teams, with 12 Lions being named to the three all-conference teams. The Lions finished fourth on the men’s side at the conference championships, while the Lion women finished sixth.

Fuseini earned first team all-Southland honors in the 100 meter dash, 200 meter dash, 4×100 meter relay, and 4×400 meter relay. Joining Fuseini on the first team are Justin Vincent (Agde, France) in the men’s long jump, Veronika Kramarenko (Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine) in the women’s high jump, and Romi Griese (Salzkotten, Germany) in the women’s discus.

The four individual champions on the first team were joined by the 4×100 meter relay team of Fuseini, Modeste, Enoch Fosuhene (Accra, Ghana), and Oguz Uyar (Cannakele, Turkey) and the 4×400 meter relay team of Fuseini, Modeste, Fosuhene, and Philip Krenek (Prague, Czech Republic).

Fosuhene was also named to second team all-Southland in the 200 meter dash, while Jonas Gran (Riehen, Switzerland) earned second team honors in the decathlon.

On the women’s side, the third team all-conference honors were Analice Pursley (Georgetown – East View) in the 400 meter hurdles, Cassandra Rendon (San Antonio – Madison) in the discus, and Blessing Samuel (Ghana) in the long jump.

Southland Conference Outdoor Track & Field superlative awards are nominated and voted upon by the league’s head coaches. Voting for oneself or one’s own athletes is not permitted. All-conference distinction is given to the first-, second- and third-place finishers in each championship event final.

Women’s Athlete of the Year – Samari Finney, Northwestern State
Women’s Outstanding Running Events Performer – Maygan Shaw, Northwestern State
Women’s Outstanding Field Events Performer – Raven-Symone Jarrett, Northwestern State
Women’s Freshman of the Year and Most Valuable Performer – Elizabeth Khatevi, A&M-Corpus Christi
Women’s Newcomer of the Year – Basia Mitchell, SFA
Women’s Phil Olson Coach of the Year – Mike Heimerman, Northwestern State
Men’s Athlete of the Year, Most Outstanding Running Events Performer and Most Valuable Performer – Ibrahim Fuseini, East Texas A&M
Men’s Outstanding Field Events Performer – Marcus Francis, McNeese
Men’s Freshman of the Year – Elkana Kipruto, SFA
Men’s Co-Newcomer of the Year – Emmanuel Ekuma, A&M-Corpus Christi
Men’s Co-Newcomer of the Year – Armani Modeste, East Texas A&M
Leon Johnson Award (Men’s Coach of the Year) – Robert Hansen, SFA

2025 SOUTHLAND CONFERENCE MEN’S OUTDOOR TRACK & FIELD ALL-CONFERENCE TEAMS

2025 SOUTHLAND CONFERENCE WOMEN’S OUTDOOR TRACK & FIELD ALL-CONFERENCE TEAMS

Article source and photo credit: lionathletics.com

AWARDS SHOW: Princeton University women’s track and cross country star Mena Scatchard, left, is all smiles as she receives the C. Otto von Kienbusch Award from Princeton Director of Athletics John Mack last Thursday evening at the Gary Walters ’67 Princeton Varsity Club Awards Banquet. The award is given annually to a Princeton senior woman of high scholastic rank who has demonstrated general proficiency in athletics and the qualities of a true sportswoman. During her Tiger career, Scatchard was eight-time Ivy League champion and a 2025 NCAA indoor runner-up in the mile. (Photo provided courtesy of Princeton Athletics)

By Bill Alden

One is a petite, wiry runner from England while the other is a chiseled 6’4 bruiser from Croatia who dominates in the pool.

Coming to Princeton from Europe in 2021, the two athletes, Mena Scatchard and Roko Pozaric, produced stellar college careers. Scatchard established herself as one of the most accomplished distance runners in the 47-year history of Princeton women’s track and field. Pozaric, for his part, ended his Tiger men’s water polo career with the most goals in program history.

Last Thursday evening, Scatchard and Pozaric were honored as the top Princeton senior athletes at the Gary Walters ’67 Princeton Varsity Club Awards Banquet. Scatchard received the C. Otto von Kienbusch Award given annually to a Princeton senior woman of high scholastic rank who has demonstrated general proficiency in athletics and the qualities of a true sportswoman. Pozaric won the William Winston Roper Trophy awarded annually to a Princeton senior man of high scholastic rank who has demonstrated general proficiency in athletics and the qualities of a true sportsman.

Scatchard displayed her quality time and time again as an eight-time Ivy League champion. A 2025 NCAA indoor runner-up in the mile, Scatchard is just the second Tiger woman to place that high at nationals – and she did it while climbing from 10th to second with the fastest final two laps in the entire field.

At the conference level, Scatchard won individual Ivy titles in four events, while winning four 4×800 relay titles. She set four facility records during her championship performances.

Additionally, Scatchard, a native of North Yorkshire, U.K., is a nine-time first team and three-time second team All-Ivy honoree.  Scatchard has rewritten the Princeton record books during her four years. She holds seven program records, including the 800 meters, 1,500, 5,000, 3,000, mile, and as a part of 4×800 and distance medley relays. She also ranks second all-time in the Princeton record books in three other events, while making the all-time top-10 in four more. Scatchard’s performances have landed her in the Ivy League all-time top-10, all-meets in seven events.
A rare middle distance runner who also excels on the cross country course, Scatchard is a two-time

All-Ivy performer and finished second overall last fall to lead the Tigers to their first cross country Heps title in nine years. Scatchard’s individual achievements and leadership have guided Princeton women’s cross country and women’s track and field to new heights this year, helping the program complete its first Triple Crown (Ivy cross country, indoor track, and outdoor track titles) since 2011 and third all-time — two milestones that will be cemented and cherished in the history of the program.

MAKING A SPLASH: Princeton University men’s water polo player Roko Pozaric unloads the ball in action this season. Pozaric, who tallied a program-record 281 goals in his Tiger career, was named last Thursday as the recipient of the William Winston Roper Trophy awarded annually to a Princeton senior man of high scholastic rank who has demonstrated general proficiency in athletics and the qualities of a true sportsman.  (Photo by Shelley M. Szwast, provided courtesy of Princeton Athletics)

Pozaric made history of his own for the Tiger men’s water polo team as a four-time All-American and three time conference Northeast Water Polo Conference (NWPC) Player of the Year. He is Princeton’s all-time leading goal scorer with 281 tallies while also ranking second all-time in assists, ranking Pozaric as arguably the best player in program history. Pozaric who hails from Zagreb Croatia, made an immediate impact when he arrived at Princeton, being named the NWPC Rookie of the Year and Rookie of the NWPC Tournament on his way to his first All-American honors.

In 2023, Pozaric had a career year with 76 goals and 47 assists and received recognition as the NWPC Tournament MVP and was named a Cutino Award finalist, an award presented annually by the Olympic Club to honor the nation’s most outstanding Division I male and female water polo athletes.

During his carer, Pozaric has helped transform the program into a national contender as the Tigers have won the conference title four years in a row, making it to the NCAA Final Four in 2023 and earning a program-record 28 wins, finishing ranked fifth in the country the last two seasons and beating two of the water polo “big four,” in Cal and Stanford, during his career. Pozaric is a four-time first-team All-NWPC performer and a 14-time conference Player of the Week.

By Dickie Anderson

Plato said, “The sea cures all ailments of man.”

My middle son and his 6-year-old son recently visited. There is only one thing my youngest grandson wanted to do. Go to the beach, and so we did. I should not have been surprised. Raising three boys, we spent lots of time at beaches in North Carolina and Delaware. The beach never got old.

It had been a while since I had enjoyed a beach day. It brought back memories of my childhood when my family would travel from Chicago to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Our simple cottage was right on the ocean, and we spent our days on the edge of the ocean fishing and swimming and just hanging out. We rented the same cottage every year. It was a sad day when we got a call telling us a hurricane had claimed our much-loved cottage.

So the cycle continues. I spread a towel and sat on the beach, wiggling my toes in the sand. Groups of people around me set up their camps with chairs, tents, and coolers. Children of all sizes and shapes gathered at the surf’s edge. Some were building sandcastles, some were jumping in the waves, and mothers were chasing their kids to slather sunscreen on their progeny. My grandson never tired of the ocean and its draw — swimming, riding his boogie board, and making forts with his dad. Who needs Disneyland when you can have a day at the beach?

As I watched all ages enjoying a beautiful Amelia Island day, I noticed a man pushing a wheelchair adapted for the beach to the edge of the surf. I joined the man and his mother and asked about the special chair. I learned that many large oceanside hotels now offer the specialized wheelchairs for their guests’ use. His mother was able to get her feet wet and was clearly comforted by her ability to enjoy the beach.

The chunky-tired chairs have made it possible for families to go to the beach together without leaving a family member with a disability at home.

It turns out Amelia Island is the preferred destination for beach goers with challenges.

Bustling Main Beach Park offers everything — beach volleyball courts, playgrounds, picnic shelters, restaurants, restrooms, a skate park and options for the disabled. There is a boardwalk with a Mobi-mat for wheelchair access that extends roughly halfway to the water. The Atlantic Recreation Center has free beach wheelchairs and one Mobi-chair — which can float in water — that can be rented. A deposit is required and equipment can only be used at city beach accesses.

Much is said about the healing qualities of the ocean. Visiting the beach always leaves me feeling alive and refreshed physically and emotionally. My time out at the beach with son and grandson has triggered a pull to the beach. This writer can’t take the computer to the beach — that is a good thing.

Dickie Anderson welcomes your questions and/or comments: dickie.anderson@gmail.com