DALLAS – Following several stellar performances at the 2022 Conference USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships held in San Antonio on May 12-15, four student-athletes from Charlotte, Middle Tennessee and Rice were voted Performers of the Meet while Charlotte’s Bob Olesen was named Coach of the Year.
 
MTSU’s Esther Isa earned the Female Field Performer of the Meet after being recognized with the same honor after the indoor championships. Charlotte’s Ta-Halia Fairman was named the Female Track Performer of the meet, while Alaba Akintola earned the Male Track Performer of the Meet honor.  Additionally, Rice’s Nick Hicks picked up the Male Field Performer of the Meet award.

All awards were voted on by the league’s head coaches.
 
Men’s and Women’s Coach of the Year – Bob Olesen, Charlotte
Olesen completed the men’s and women’s championship sweep at this year’s outdoor championships seeing the men win with 179.50 points and the women earning the victory with 121 points thanks to a 4x400m gold medal win. Charlotte picked up 24 All-Conference honors at the outdoor league meet including eight gold medals. Earlier in the season, Olesen also led the Charlotte men to the indoor league title. It was the second sweep of the indoor/outdoor titles in the last three championships as Charlotte also did it in 2019.
 
Male Track Performer of the Meet – Alaba Akintola, Middle Tennessee, Jr., Ondo, Nigeria
The Blue Raider standout picked up both the 100m and 200m gold medals at last week’s outdoor championships in blazing fashion. He posted the eighth-fastest 100m time in the country with his C-USA meet record time of 10.04. He also clocked a stadium-record and wind-legal time of 20.36 in the 200m to complete the indoor/outdoor sweep of the event. His time is in the top 20 nationally this season.  
 
Male Field Performer of the Meet – Nick Hicks, Rice, Jr., San Marcos, Texas
Hicks took first in the men’s hammer throw with a massive season-best toss of 63.87m (209-6) to defend his title and pick up his fourth career gold medal between indoor/outdoor C-USA Championships. Hicks threw 60+ meters on three of his six attempts with his best coming on his fifth attempt. He followed that by finishing third in the discus with a toss of 52.89m (173-6).
 
Female Track Performer of the Meet – Ta-Halia Fairman, Charlotte, So., Jacksonville, N.C.
Fairman, the 2022 C-USA high point scorer of the meet, was also selected as this year’s Track Performer of the Meet as she swept the 100m and 200m races. The sophomore clocked an 11.48 to win the 100m gold and followed with a 23.34 in the 200m for the win. She also ran a leg of Charlotte’s silver medal 4x100m relay squad and the gold medal 4x400m relay team. Fairman was also the 200m indoor Champion earlier this year in Birmingham.
 
Female Field Performer of the Meet – Esther Isa, Middle Tennessee, Gr., Lagos, Nigeria
Isa continued her jumps dominance as she won both the triple jump and long jump at this year’s outdoor championships. The 2022 indoor triple jump champion recorded a leap of 6.39m (20-11.75) in the long jump to set a stadium record on her sixth and final jump. She won another gold medal in stadium-record setting fashion as she jumped a personal best 13.37m (43-10.50) in the triple jump for the win.