Big South Announces 2023-24 Men's Track & Field Athletes of the Year
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – Charleston Southern redshirt-junior
Shawn Langley Jr. (Douglasville, Ga.) has been voted the 2023-24 Big South Conference Men’s Track Athlete of the Year, while High Point graduate student
Chris Van Niekerk (Sasolburg, South Africa) has been selected the league’s 2023-24 Men's Field Athlete of the Year, it was announced today by the Conference office. The awards are voted on by the Big South track & field head coaches as part of their annual June meeting, and encompass both the indoor track & field and outdoor track & field seasons.
Langley was the Big South Champion in both in the Indoor 400m (46.94) and Outdoor 400m (46.36) in 2024, and earned additional All-Conference medals in the 200m (outdoor) plus both 4x400m (bronze). He advanced to the NCAA East First Round for the second consecutive year, where he ran a 46.99 in the 400m to finish 31st overall at the meet. Langley won his second career Big South Outdoor 400m title with a time of 46.36, as the effort marked a season-best after he ran a season-best 46.57 in the prelims. He established a PR in the 200m at the Big South Championship with a legal time of 21.06 for the 8th-fastest time in school history, and was on the 4x400m relay team which took 3rd overall with a time of 3:15.15 for the 8th-best in program history. Langley opened his outdoor season winning the 200m and 4x400m at the Charleston Southern Invitational. Competing indoors, Langley won the 400m Conference Championship with a PR time of 46.94 -- the second-best in CSU history and 6th-fastest in Big South history. He also had the fastest time through the prelims with a 47.77 at the meet. He took second at the meet in the 200m with a time of 21.28, just tenths of a second off his indoor personal best, and helped the 4x400m squad to a 3rd place finish with a time of 3:17.94, which was tenths of a second off being the top time in the field as well as a Top 10 mark in school history. Langley totaled 24 points that helped tie the Buccaneers' best finish at the Big South Championship and create a new top mark for points scored at the conference meet with 136.5. He broke the school and conference records in the 300m with a time of 33.38 at the Gamecock Opener in January, ran an indoor personal-best in the 200m with a time of 21.22 at the USC Indoor Open in February, which is second in school history and 9th all-time in the Big South, and was part of the winning 4x400m relay squad at the same meet that recorded the fourth-fastest time in school history at 3:15.89.
Van Niekerk claimed Second-Team All-America honors at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships following his 18.82m performance in the shot put -- becoming High Point’s first-ever men’s outdoor track & field All-American in the event as well as the Big South’s first shot put All-American since 2013. He punched his ticket to the National Meet with a ninth-place finish at the NCAA East First Round with a Big South- and school-record throw of 19.12m. Van Niekerk was the Big South Outdoor Champion in the shot put and discus -- becoming the first men’s student-athlete in Big South history with three career individual titles in both events -- and won the shot put with a Championship Meet-record 18.77m. During the outdoor season, he was a five-time winner in the shot put, in addition to two victories in the discus. Van Niekerk was the Big South Indoor Champion in the shot put with a Meet-record throw of 18.63m -- his third career conference gold medal in the event, and one of four victories this season. He also recorded a season-best distance of 16.89m in the weight throw at the Conference Championship to earn points with his fourth-place finish.
Finalists for the Big South’s annual Men's Track & Field awards were:
* Track Athlete of the Year:
DeMarr Harvey (UNC Asheville) and
A’Lajuwan Robinson (High Point)
* Field Athlete of the Year:
Quentin Peterson (Gardner-Webb)
ANNUAL MEN'S TRACK & FIELD ATHLETES OF THE YEAR
1997 - David Bobb, UMBC
1998 - Greg Benhase, Liberty
1999 - Mike Decker, Liberty
2000 - Mike Decker, Liberty
2001 - Mike Decker, Liberty
2002 - Rod Lorick, Winthrop
2003 - Goran Nava, Radford
2004 - Paulvince Obuon, VMI
2005 - Josh McDougal, Liberty
2006 - Josh McDougal, Liberty
2007 - Josh McDougal, Liberty
2008 - Josh McDougal, Liberty
2009 - Sam Chelanga, Liberty & Donnie Cowart, VMI
2010 - Sam Chelanga, Liberty
2011 - Sam Chelanga, Liberty
2012 - Kolby Shepherd, Liberty
2013 - Dakota Peachee, High Point
2014 - Vincent Wyatt, Radford (runner); Braxton Drummond, Charleston Southern (field)
2015 - Lawrence Kipkoech, Campbell (runner); Reggie Nelson, Coastal Carolina (field)
2016 - Lawrence Kipkoech, Campbell (runner); Braxton Drummond, Charleston Southern (field)
2017 - Amon Terer, Campbell (runner); Carson Waters, Liberty (field)
2018 - Amon Kemboi, Campbell (runner); Markus Ballengee, Liberty (field)
2019 - Amon Kemboi, Campbell (runner); Colby Thorn, Winthrop (field)
2020 - none (season incomplete and canceled due to coronavirus pandemic)
2021 - Athanas Kioko, Campbell (track); Chris Van Niekerk, High Point (field)
2022 - Randolph Ross Jr., North Carolina A&T (track); Brandon Hicklin, North Carolina A&T (field)
2023 - Dominique Alexander, Campbell (track); Channing Ferguson, USC Upstate (field)
2024 - Shawn Langley Jr., Charleston Southern (track); Chris Van Niekerk, High Point (field)