DALLAS – Following the 2023 Outdoor Track and Field Championships held in Denton, Texas on May 11-14, four student-athletes from Middle Tennessee, North Texas, UTEP and UTSA were named Performers of the Meet.

Middle Tennessee’s Alaba Akintola earned Male Track Performer of the Meet for the second consecutive year. UTEP’s Niesha Burgher was named Female Track Athlete of the Meet. UTSA’s Jack Turner won Male Field Performer of the Meet, while North Texas’ KeAyla Dove was selected as Female Field Performer of the Meet. Akintola, Burgher and Turner were also named Performers of the Meet after the indoor championships.

All four individual awards were voted on by the league’s head coaches and solely based on student-athlete’s performances at the 2023 outdoor championship.

Male Track Performer of the Meet - Alaba Akintola, Middle Tennessee, Sr., Ondo, Nigeria
Akintola took home two gold medals in the 100m and 200m. In the 100m he finished just 0.01 seconds behind his record time from last year. Akintola finished with a time of 10.05. In the 200m, he ran a 20.43s time and combined for almost half the teams points. His 100 and 200 marks currently ranks No. 8 and No. 12 respectively.
 
Female Track Performer of the Meet - Niesha Burgher, UTEP, Jr., Saint Thomas, Jamaica
Burgher tallied the most points with 22.5 on the female side, capturing the C-USA High Point Scorer of the Meet.  Burgher won four medals, winning gold in the 100m with an 11.34, the seventh best time in school history. She won silver in the 200m with a time of 23.26, setting the program record with a personal-best 22.90 in the 200 prelims. That mark currently ranks 18th in the West Region and 35th nationally. Her 100 time ranks 19th regionally and 35th nationally. Burgher also took home gold in the 4x400 (3:38.87) and silver in the 4x100 (44.53).
 
Male Field Performer of the Meet - Jack Turner, UTSA, Jr., Exeter, England
Turner completed the sweep of the 2023 C-USA multi-event crowns with a record-setting performance in the decathlon scoring 8,011 points to break the previous meet record of 7,837 points set by Scott Filip of Rice in 2017. Turner improved his own UTSA standard of 7,659 set when he won the 2021 C-USA Outdoor decathlon. He has now won three consecutive C-USA Outdoor decathlon gold medals and owns six career conference golds including his trio of C-USA Indoor heptathlon titles. Turner joined the exclusive 8,000-point club with his performance and currently ranks sixth nationally in the decathlon. Turner also added an eighth-place finish in the long jump to help lead UTSA to a runner-up finish in the team standings.

Female Field Performer of the Meet – KeAyla Dova, Jr., Houston, Texas
Dove launched her final throw in the shot put 62-02.25 (18.95m) to claim the conference title and break both the school and meet records. She saved her best for last as she flew over a meter past both her school record and Memphis' Susan King's Conference USA mark of 17.84 that had stood since 2008. Dove is now ranked No. 3 in the nation and No. 8 in the world with her record-setting championship performance.