April 21, 2006

Birmingham, Ala. – South Carolina’s Shalonda Solomon and LSU’s Xavier Carter claimed SEC Women’s and Men’s Runner of the Year awards for the 2005-06 Indoor season. Florida’s Mike Morrison and Georgia’s Jenny Dalhgren claimed SEC Men’s and Women’s Field Event Athlete of the Year awards, and Florida’s Willie Perry and Shannon Leinert were voted SEC Men’s and Women’s Freshman Runners of the Year. Nkosinza Balumbu of Arkansas and Levern Spencer of Georgia were named SEC Men’s and Women’s Freshman Field Event Athlete of the Year, respectively. All awards were determined by a vote of the conference head coaches.

In addition, Arkansas’ head track coach John McDonnell was named SECMen’s Indoor Coach of the Year, for the 11th time in his career, with Georgia’s Wayne Norton being named SEC Women’s Indoor Coach of the Year, for the first time in his career, also by a vote of the conference head coaches.

Solomon grabbed a national champion title in the 200-meter dash in Fayetteville, Ark. with a blazing time of 22.57. The time was two-tenths of a second faster than next competitor. The Inglewood, Calif. native tied teammate Amberly Nesbitt with a team-leading time of 7.21 in the 60-meter dash, which was the fourth fastest time for an SEC runner in the NCAA Indoor Championships.

Carter was named the male United States Track Coaches Association Indoor Athlete of the Year. Carter claimed the 400-meter dash national title in Fayetteville, Ark. with a blistering time of 45.28 and ran the anchor leg of the 1,600-meter relay that also claimed a national championship with a time of 3:04.01. The 2005 SEC Freshman Indoor Runner of the Year also finished runner-up in the 200- meter dash with a time of 20.30, just 0.03 seconds behind title winner Walter Dix of Florida State. The LSU sophomore becomes the first LSU athlete to claim the Runner of the Year honors.

A complete list of the 2005-06 indoor track and field awards is below.

2005-06 SEC Indoor Track and Field Postseason Awards
SEC Men’s Runner of the Year
Xavier Carter, LSU
SEC Men’s Field Event Athlete of the Year
Mike Morrison, Florida
SEC Men’s Freshman Runner of the Year
Willie Perry, Florida
SEC Men’s Freshman Field Event Athlete of the Year
Nkosinza Balumbu, Arkansas
SEC Men’s Indoor Track and Field Coach of the Year
John McDonnell, Arkansas
SEC Women’s Runner of the Year
Shalonda Solomon, South Carolina
SEC Women’s Field Event Athlete of the Year
Jenny Dalhgren, Georgia
SEC Women’s Freshman Runner of the Year
Shannon Leinert, Florida
SEC Women’s Freshman Field Event Athlete of the Year
Levern Spencer, Georgia
SEC Women’s Indoor Track and Field Coach of the Year
Wayne Norton, Georgia