EMPORIA, Kan. – The East Coast Conference's 2024 Male and Female Outdoor Track and Field Athletes of the Year, Roberts Wesleyan's Brynn King and St. Thomas Aquinas' Emmanuel Mena Jimenez represented the conference at the 2024 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, held at Emporia State University's Welch Stadium on Thursday and Friday. 

King claimed the 2024 national title in the pole vault in 4.60m (15' 1"), breaking the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championship meet record and Welch Stadium facility record on Thursday evening. She becomes the first student-athlete in East Coast Conference history to claim multiple national individual titles, after also winning the NCAA indoor pole vault title back on March 8. The mark stands as a new championship record by ten centimeters, surpassing Kristen Hixon's previous record that stood since 2014. The complete release on King's impressive feat can be found here. 

Entering his third NCAA Division II National Championship meet, having competed in the discus at the outdoor meet last May and the weight throw at the indoor event this past March, ranked 13th nationally with a season-best discus toss of 54.92m (180' 2"), Mena Jimenez finished 12th with a toss of 51.29m (168' 3").