Three Athletes Earn Regional USTFCCCA Awards

NEW ORLEANS, La. -- Three MIAA indoor track and field student-athletes and one coach earned Division II regional awards from the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA), which was announced Friday (March 5).

The University of Central Missouri had both winners of the South Central Region Field Athletes of the Year. Junior Drew Frizzell earned the men’s award and sophomore Lindsay Lettow claimed the women’s award. Pittsburg State University senior Jeremy Jackson was the Men’s Track Athlete of the Year for the region, while his coach Russ Jewett was chosen as the regional men’s Coach of the Year.

Jackson, a native of Burton, Texas, holds the top-ranked 60-meter hurdle time in Division II (7.91) and won the MIAA title in the event this season. Jackson also took second at the indoor championship meet in the 60-meter dash and has recorded a 6.83 in the event, finishing the season among the Division’s top 15.

Frizzell ranks in the nation’s top six and is entered in the NCAA Championships in both the shot put and weight throw. With the weight, Frizzell won the MIAA Indoor Championship this year and recorded a school-record toss of 68-3¾ feet (20.82 meters) at the Mule Relays. Frizzell also recorded his season best of 57-11¾ feet (17.67 meters) in the shot, placing second at the conference meet. A repeat USTFCCCA regional honoree in indoor track and field, Frizzell is from Chillicothe, Mo.

Lettow totaled 3,845 points in winning the MIAA Indoor Championship pentathlon to rank second in the country in the event heading into the NCAA Indoor Championships. Lettow also claimed MIAA titles in the 60-meter hurdles and 600-yard run to be the meet’s high point scorer (38). The Urbandale, Iowa, native ranks in the nation’s top 20 in three open events, having run 8.66 in the hurdles (ninth nationally), jumped 5-5¾ feet (1.67 meters) in the high jump (20th nationally) and marking 18-8½ feet (5.70 meters) in the long jump (15th nationally). For the national championships, Lettow is entered in the pentathlon and 60-meter hurdles.

Jewett’s Pittsburg State Gorillas rank number five nationally heading into the NCAA Division II Indoor Championships, led by top-ranked 60-meter hurdler Jeremy Jackson and double-qualifier Brian Allen (shot put and weight throw). The Gorillas finished second in this year’s MIAA Indoor Championships. Jewett is in his twenty-third season at the helm of the Pittsburg State program.