LYNCHBURG, VA--An incredible year was made more memorable by Winthrop distance runner
Jeanne Stroud on Saturday as the Charleston junior added two more major awards to her trophy case and broke the Big South Conference meet record for the 5,000 meters as the BSC Outdoor Track and Field Championships came to a close at Liberty University.
After winning the 10,000 meter run on Thursday night, Stroud made it a double victory by winning the 5K in a time of 16:59.40 to set a new Big South Championships meet record. Her time also established a new facility record at Liberty.
By capturing both races, Stroud was named the Women's 2013 Most Outstanding Track Performer. She was also voted the 2013 Scholar-Athlete of the Year by the league's sports information directors to make a clean sweep of that honor after receiving it in cross country and 2012-13 indoor track. She has compiled a 3.958 grade point average while majoring in English.
Stroud will now look forward to competing in the NCAA East Preliminary at North Carolina A&T on May 23-25.
"Jeanne is emerging as a force going into post-season competition," said Winthrop head coach
Ben Paxton. "While winning the 10K and 5K this week, Jeanne ran conservatively in the first part of both races before accelerating to take commanding victories."
In addition to Stroud's two gold medal victories in the distance runs, Winthrop sophomore Mark Britton (Pennsboro, WV) captured the conference championship in the discus competition. He won the event in thrilling fashion on his final throw that measured 49.07 meters (161 feet).
"Mark had all of us on edge as he jumped from third place to first on that final throw," said Paxton. "I think that aged Coach (Brett) Best by 20 years."
In the final team standings, the Winthrop women finished eighth while the Eagle men placed ninth. The host team Liberty captured both team championships with the men claiming their 18th Big South title while the women won for the 13th time.
