Big South Announces 2024-25 Women's Track & Field Athletes of the Year
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – High Point sophomore
Brianna Malone (Barrington, N.H.) has been voted the 2024-25 Big South Conference Women’s Track Athlete of the Year, while HPU graduate student
Sydney Horn (Lancaster, Pa.) has been selected the league’s 2024-25 Women'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.
Malone is the first High Point runner since 2021 to be voted the Women’s Track Athlete of the Year. She was the Big South Champion in the Indoor 800m and Mile -- the first women’s student-athlete to win both events since 2006, in addition to winning the Outdoor 800m and 1,500m. Malone won the Indoor 800m in a time of 2:10.32 and repeated as the Big South Mile Champion in 4:49.44, along with a runner-up finish in the 3,000m run (9:36.18). During the indoor season, she broke three Big South records. Her time of 2:47.82 in winning the 1,000m at the Brant Tolsma Invitational on Jan. 25 bettered the old mark by two seconds. Malone’s 4:35.62 effort in the Mile at the Doc Hale Meet on Feb. 7 eclipsed the league’s 23-year old record by just under three seconds, while her time of 9:09.58 in the 3,000m run at the David Hemery Valentine Invitational on Feb. 15 surpassed the old conference record by nearly 14 seconds. In the outdoor campaign, Malone broke the Big South’s record in the 1,500m at the NCAA Division I East First Round Meet with a time of 4:11.37 -- just :0.31 seconds shy of qualifying for Eugene. She repeated as the Big South Champion in the 1,500m run with a Meet-record time of 4:19.78, and set a Championship Meet-record in winning the 800m with a time of 2:05.34, which is third-fastest in conference history. Malone was the 800m winner at both the Webb Davidson Meet (2:10.19) and Aggie Invitational (2:07.17), and set a PR in the 5,000m run with a time of 16:37.35 at the Duke Invitational on April 12 (16th all-time in league annals).
Horn is the first-ever four-time winner of the Big South Women’s Field Athlete of the Year award. She earned All-America honors in the pole vault in both the indoor and outdoor seasons, and earned the Most Outstanding Performance at the Big South Indoor Championship with her clearance of 4.45m in winning her fourth consecutive pole vault title -- becoming the first four-time Champion in the event in Big South history. Horn finished seventh at the National Indoor Meet with a height of 4.40m for her fourth career First-Team All-America honor. During the indoor season, she cleared at least 4.40m four times, re-set her own Big South pole vault record when she cleared 4.57m at the Virginia Tech Challenge on Feb. 21, and was the event winner six times in her nine starts. Horn won the pole vault three times during the outdoor campaign -- including the Liberty Twilight Qualifier with a Big South-record clearance of 4.46m. She finished second at the NCAA Division I East First Round (4.24m) to qualify for the National Championship Meet in Eugene, where she finished 10th to earn Second-Team All-America accolades -- marking her ninth career All-America honor.
Finalists for the Big South’s annual Women's Track & Field awards were:
* Track Athlete of the Year:
Sienna Bailey (Radford)
* Field Athlete of the Year:
Rachel Davis (USC Upstate)
ANNUAL WOMEN'S TRACK & FIELD ATHLETES OF THE YEAR
1997 - Angela Murphy, Coastal Carolina
1998 - Jolene Williams, Coastal Carolina
1999 - Jolene Williams, Coastal Carolina
2000 - Khadijah Conda, Radford
2001 - Amber Campbell, Coastal Carolina
2002 - Heather Sagan, Liberty
2003 - Amber Campbell, Coastal Carolina
2004 - Amber Campbell, Coastal Carolina
2005 - Chasity Johnson, Coastal Carolina
2006 - Tiffany Evans, Radford
2007 - Tiffany Evans, Radford
2008 - Dionne Gibson, Charleston Southern
2009 - Charleston Southern 4x100 relay team (Dionne Gibson, Jessica Thomas, Misha Morris, Gabrielle Houston)
2010 - Natalie Pearson, UNC Asheville
2011 - Natalie Pearson, UNC Asheville
2012 - Gabrielle Houston, Charleston Southern
2013 - Erica Peake, Coastal Carolina
2014 - Jessica Gelibert, Coastal Carolina (runner); Christine Rickert, High Point (field)
2015 - Letitia Saayman, Coastal Carolina (runner); Marthaline Cooper, Winthrop (field)
2016 - Ednah Kurgat, Liberty (runner); Marthaline Cooper, Winthrop (field)
2017 - Joan Maritim, Campbell (runner); Marthaline Cooper, Winthrop (field)
2018 - Famke Heinst, High Point (runner); Sabina Allen, Campbell (field)
2019 - Famke Heinst, High Point (runner); Natasha Hamilton, Gardner-Webb (field)
2020 - none (season incomplete and canceled due to coronavirus pandemic)
2021 - Zoe Geis, High Point (track); Sydney Horn, High Point (field)
2022 - Grace Nwokocha, North Carolina A&T (track); Sydney Horn, High Point (field)
2023 - Chastity Pickett, Campbell (track); Sydney Horn, High Point (field)
2024 - Chloe Wellings, Radford (track); Chloe Greene, Charleston Southern (field)
2025 - Brianna Malone, High Point (track); Sydney Horn, High Point (field)