WEST BABYLON, N.Y. – St. Thomas Aquinas senior Emmanuel Mena Jimenez (West Haverstraw, N.Y.) and Holy Family junior Nishorn Pierre (Grenada) have been selected the 2024 ECC Indoor Track & Field Men’s Co-Athletes of the Year and Roberts Wesleyan graduate student Brynn King (The Woodlands, Texas) has been tabbed the 2024 ECC Indoor Track & Field Women’s Athlete of the Year, as voted on by the league’s head coaches and announced on Friday morning. Additionally, Holy Family’s Dwight Brandon and Felician’s Anthony Scannella were tabbed the ECC Indoor Track & Field Coaches of the Year on the men’s and women’s side, respectively.
All three ECC standouts have qualified for the upcoming NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships, set for March 8-9 in Pittsburg, Kansas at the Robert W. Plaster Center - King in the women’s pole vault (No. 1), Pierre in the men’s high jump (No. 8), and Mena Jimenez in the men’s weight throw (No. 15).
Mena Jimenez won the weight throw six times in nine opportunities this indoor season, including the gold medal at the ECC Indoor Track & Field Championships where he turned in a career-best, ECC-leading, and NCAA East Region-leading mark of 20.22m (66’ 4 1/4”). The ECC Preseason Co-Athlete of the Year (with Pierre) also excelled in the shot put, competing in the event eight times, the final resulting in the bronze medal at ECCs at 14.75m (48’ 4 3/4”). Mena Jimenez’s season-best mark in the shot put of 15.30m (50' 2 1/2”) ranks third in the ECC and fifth in the NCAA East Region.
Pierre dominated all three jump events this indoor season, culminating in a clean sweep and trio of gold medals in the high jump (2.13m/6’ 11 3/4”), long jump (7.24m/23’9”), and triple jump (14.55m/47’ 9”) at the ECC Indoor Track & Field Championships. In all, Nishorn won all six high jump events in which he competed this season to go with three triple jump victories. The ECC Preseason Co-Athlete of the Year (with Mena Jimenez) led the ECC and NCAA East Region in both the high jump (2.15m/7’ 1/2”) and triple jump (15.06m/49’ 5”) and ranked second in both the ECC and NCAA East Region in the long jump (7.24m/23’ 9”).
King immediately made her presence known on the Division II national stage after a decorated career at Duke as the Roberts Wesleyan standout broke the all-time NCAA Division II pole vault record in her RWU debut with a mark of 4.41m (14’ 5 1/2”) on December 1. King never looked back, smashing the record seven total times throughout the season en route to an NCAA-leading mark of 4.61m (15’ 1 1/2”). King now owns the second-best indoor pole vault mark out of all NCAA divisions this season, trailing only Division I’s Hana Moll of the University of Washington (4.64m/15' 2 3/4”). She won eight of her 10 pole vault events this indoor season and was the only ECC athlete to compete at the USA Track & Field Indoor Nationals, where she finished seventh as the only collegiate athlete in her field.
Brandon earns his second consecutive and first outright ECC Indoor Track & Field Men’s Coach of the Year honor after the Tigers took home the ECC Indoor Track & Field Championships men’s team title on February 18.
Scannella, whose Golden Falcons won the ECC Women’s Indoor Track & Field Championships after having been picked sixth in the ECC Preseason Poll, receives his first ECC Indoor Track & Field Women’s Coach of the Year accolade.