By Rob Schabert, Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Just how good is the freshman class on the Tennessee Tech track & field team?
D’Airrien Jackson has been named the Ohio Valley Conference Freshman of the Year for the league’s outdoor season in a vote by league coaches. Her honor comes just a couple months after teammate Na’Asha Robinson was voted the OVC Freshman of the Year for the indoor season.
“I am very pleased for Darrien,” said Golden Eagle coach Wayne Angel. “She is the top freshman in the entire country in the 400 meters. To receive this special honor from the OVC speaks volumes of this young lady and our track and field program at Tennessee Tech University.”
Jackson, who comes to Tech from Santa Clara, Calif., owns the fastest time in the nation among all freshmen in the 400-meter dash, posting a school-record effort of 52.64 seconds at the Vanderbilt Invitational on March 26. She is also ranked first in the OVC at 800 meters with a school-record time of 2:08.81, a winning time at the Austin Peay Invitational on April 16. Jackson ranks 10th at 200 meters with a time in 24.55.
In addition to her individual marks, she has been part of three record-setting relay teams for the Golden Eagles including the 4x100m, 4x400m and 4x800m distances. Tech ranks second in the OVC in the 4x400m relay, and the team’s 4x100m time ranks third in the league.
While Jackson’s 400m time is tops in the country, Robinson ranks sixth among all freshmen in the nation in the same event with a personal-best time of 53.23 seconds. The two Golden Eagle runners are in the top six, sandwiched around four runners all from power conferences who run for Florida State, Texas A&M, South Carolina and Florida.
“This is a very exciting time for Tech track and field,” Angel said. “To have two freshmen receive the Freshman of the Year Award in the same year from the same school is a rare occurrence.”
“D’Airrien and NaAsha will have many years leading the OVC championships and beyond,” Angel said.
The other major track & field awards from the OVC went to athletes from Eastern Kentucky, SIUE, Belmont and Tennessee State. The major OVC award winners for 2016 outdoor season:
Women's track athlete of the year: Hannah Wittman, Belmont
Women's field athlete of the year: Amber Hughes, TSU
Women's freshman of the year: D'Airrien Jackson, TTU
Men's track athlete of the year: Jakub Abrahamsen, EKU
Men's field athlete of the year: Julian Harvey, SIUE
Men's freshman of the year: Nick Matthews, SIUE
All of those winners will be on display in Nashville this weekend at the 2016 OVC Outdoor Championships, to be held Friday and Saturday at the Ed Temple Track on the campus of Tennessee State University.
