January 21, 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 – Jenoah McKiver, Florida
Senior | Sprints | High Point, North Carolina
Jenoah McKiver is fast.
Like, nobody else is faster in world history fast.
McKiver set a world all-time best in the 600 yards of 1:05.75 this past weekend at the Corky Classic in Lubbock, Texas. The Florida standout, who closed the last lap in 24.45, lopped more than one second off the previous best of 1:06.93 by Moitalel Mpoke established back in 2020.
That wasn’t the end of the day for McKiver, as he returned to close out the meet with a scintillating 44.98 anchor leg on Florida’s collegiate-leading 4×400 relay that went 3:02.80.
This marks the seventh time in program history – and first time since 2019 – that a male athlete from Florida has been named M-F Athletic National Athlete of the Week during the indoor season. McKiver joins four-time honoree and 2019 The Bowerman winner Grant Holloway, 2018 honoree Benjamin Lobo Vedel and 2015 honoree Najee Glass in that regard.
NCAA DIVISION I WOMEN – Laura Pellicoro, Portland
Grad Student | Mid-Distance | Milan, Italy
Laura Pellicoro is making her last year count.
The Portland standout set an all-conditions collegiate best in the 1000 meters of 2:37.04 this past weekend at the UW Preview in Seattle, Washington. The grad student also established a new Italian national record, shedding 0.05 seconds from Elena Bello’s standard from 2023.
Earlier in the season, Pellicoro set an 8:53.32 PR over 3000 meters at the Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener in Boston, Massachusetts.
This is the first time in program history that an athlete from Portland has been named M-F Athletic National Athlete of the Week during the indoor season.
NCAA DIVISION II MEN – Reece Sharman-Newell, CSU Pueblo
Senior | Distance | Hampshire, England
It’s one thing to break four minutes in the mile. It’s another to do it 5,430 feet above sea level.
Reece Sharman-Newell accomplished that extraordinary feat this past weekend at the Colorado Classic.
The senior from CSU Pueblo crossed the line in 3:59.37, becoming the fastest miler on Colorado soil. In doing so, he took down a talented field that featured professional adidas athlete Sam Parsons and multi-time All-American Loic Scomparin of Colo. School of Mines.
Sharman-Newell also enters the record book eighth all-time in NCAA DII history, and yet he holds one thing over the rest: elevation.
This marks the second time an athlete from CSU Pueblo has been named M-F National Athlete of the Week during the indoor season. Sharman-Newell joins two-time honoree Thomas Staines who was awarded the honor on February 6, 2018 and February 12, 2019.
NCAA DIVISION II WOMEN – Aria Hawkins, Lee (Tenn.)
Senior | Distance | Cincinnati, Ohio
What’s better than one national lead? Two, of course.
Aria Hawkins has been sitting comfortably at the top of the 3k performance list since the first weekend in December with her 9:19.54 clocking. Well, apparently that wasn’t good enough for the senior out of Lee (Tenn.) as she went and took the mile lead at the Vanderbilt Indoor Invitational on Saturday, running 4:41.36. The mark is nearly five seconds ahead of Annie Wild of Stanislaus State who posted 4:46.05 halfway across the country at the Washington Indoor Preview.
Hawkins has earned individual All-American status in both cross country and outdoor track & field. The only one currently missing from the resume is indoor track & field. She’s off to a flying start in that pursuit.
This marks the second time a female athlete from Lee (Tenn.) has been named M-F National Athlete of the Week during the indoor season. Hawkins joins 2021 honoree Celine Ritter who was awarded the honor on February 23 of that year.
NCAA DIVISION III MEN – Alexander Rhodes, Puget Sound
Sophomore | Sprints | Portland, Oregon
Alexander Rhodes, we meet again.
And if you keep sprinting like you are, chances are this won’t be the last time.
Rhodes became the second fastest all-conditions performer in NCAA DIII history over 400 meters with his PR 46.51 at the UW Preview. The Puget Sound sophomore now only trails Andrew Rock in NCAA DIII history (Rock’s all-conditions best is 45.82, but his record-legal NCAA DIII record sits at 46.42 from the 2004 NCAA DIII Indoor Championships).
Earlier in the season, Rhodes shattered the NCAA DIII record in the 300 meters when he traversed the distance in 32.91 at the Spokane Invitational.
This is the second time this season that Rhodes has been named M-F Athletic National Athlete of the Week. Rhodes previously earned national weekly honors on December 16.
NCAA DIVISION III WOMEN – Allie Wildsmith, Coast Guard
Junior | Jumps | Bainbridge Island, Washington
Welcome to the record book, Allie Wildsmith.
The Coast Guard standout soared PR 1.80m (5-10¾) in the high jump this past weekend at the Coast Guard Winter Invitational to equal the third best performer in NCAA DIII history. That also matched the best jump by an NCAA DIII athlete since the turn of the millennium.
Wildsmith wasted no time reaching rarefied air. She cleared the bar on her first attempt at the height, something she did on each of her previous six bars, too.
This marks the fourth time in program history that a female athlete from the Coast Guard Academy has been named M-F Athletic National Athlete of the Week during the indoor season. Wildsmith joins 2019 three-time honoree Kaitlyn Mooney in that regard.
NAIA MEN – Netanel Dorothea, Madonna (Mich.)
Freshman | Sprints | Den Hague, Netherlands
Netanel Dorothea put himself in select company at the Saginaw Valley State Classic in University Center, Michigan.
Running on SVSU’s 300-meter flat oval, Dorothea blasted to a time of 20.83 in winning the 200 meters by 0.33 seconds.
That time slotted him No. 2 all-time on the NAIA indoor all-conditions list, right behind the 20.80 that Indiana Tech’s Zayquan Lincoln registered in winning the 2022 NAIA Indoor title, also on a flat 300 track. It’s also just ahead of the 20.84 run by 2004 NAIA champ Mike Mitchell of Azusa Pacific.
Dorothea’s mark is also an absolute PR, bettering the 20.92 he ran outdoors last May prior to entering Madonna.
This is the first time that a male athlete from Madonna has been named M-F Athletic National Athlete of the Week during the indoor season.
NAIA WOMEN – Praise Idamadudu, Cumberland (Tenn.)
Senior | Sprints | Nigeria
Praise Idamadudu returned to familiar territory at the Vanderbilt Invitational in Nashville, Tennessee, this past weekend.
Not only was it her second-straight week running in the Music City, she is also at or near the top in multiple NAIA seasonal lists as Idamadudu won her sections of both the 200 and 400 meters.
In Friday’s 200 her time of 24.25 on the oversized oval gave her the overall victory and put her No. 2 on the year’s NAIA seasonal list. A day later her time of 54.72 in the 400 was good for fourth place overall as she put herself on top of the NAIA list.
Idamadudu has amassed six NAIA individual titles as well as six runner-up finishes in previous years, combining all distances indoors or outdoors.
This is the first time that a female athlete from Cumberland has been named M-F Athletic National Athlete of the Week during the indoor season. Idamadudu has twice been honored outdoors – once each in 2023 and 2024.
NJCAA MEN – Isaiah Patrick, South Plains (Texas)
Sophomore | Hurdles/Jumps | Grenada
Contesting the long jump didn’t seem to slow Isaiah Patrick at all during multiple rounds of the 60-meter hurdles at Texas Tech’s Corky Classic.
In fact, that’s when he ran his fastest – including a best of 7.67, missing the NJCAA record by just 0.03 seconds during a busy Friday afternoon/evening in Lubbock, Texas.
After a safe 7.88 time in the preliminaries of the 60H, Patrick began to warm up for the long jump, which started a half hour before the semifinals of the hurdles. Patrick managed a jump of 7.19m (23-7¼) in Round 2 before he went back to hurdling duties, PRing at 7.74 in the semis before clocking 7.67 for third in the final later in the evening.
Patrick won the 110-meter hurdles at last year’s NJCAA DI Outdoor Championships, where he also was runner-up in the long jump.
This is the 13th time that a male athlete from South Plains has been named M-F Athletic National Athlete of the Week during the indoor season. Patrick joins Mehmet Celik (2023), Kimar Farquharson (once each in 2023 and 2022), Kudakwashe Chadenga (2022), Thomas Nieto (2022), Moitalel Mpoke (2020), Laquan Nairn (2017), Hassan Abdi (2016), DeVante Lacy (2016), Fabian Edoki (2016), Jereem Richards (2015) and Earnest Mosheleketi (2015).
NJCAA WOMEN – Anita Afrifa, Colby (Kan.) CC
Sophomore | Sprints | Kumasi, Ghana
Fast times were highly anticipated at Kansas State’s Thane Baker Invitational as the 60 meters featured a pair of reigning NJCAA sprint champions.
Keliza Smith of Barton (Kan.) CC set the tone in heat 1, as last year’s NJCAA 60 champ ran a nation-leading 7.42, while Anita Afrifa – last year’s outdoor 100/200 winner – won heat 4 in a PR 7.44.
An hour later in the final, Afrifa won a sizzler as both PRed – Afrifa at 7.30 to become No. 2 on the all-time NJCAA list, and Smith at 7.33 to move to No. =8.
Afrifa capped off the day with another PR, running 23.72 to win the 200 by over a full second.
This is the first time that a female athlete from Colby has been named M-F Athletic National Athlete of the Week during the indoor season. Afrifa was honored outdoors in 2024.