COLONIA, NJ – Roberts Wesleyan graduate student Brynn King (The Woodlands, TX) has unanimously been selected as the 2025 ECC Outdoor Track and Field Female Athlete of the Year, as voted on by the league’s eight head coaches and announced on Friday morning. In a three-way tie among the league’s six head coaches on the men’s side, the trio of Roberts Wesleyan freshman Thomas McConnelee (Carlisle, NY), St. Thomas Aquinas graduate student Emmanuel Mena Jimenez (West Haverstraw, NY), and Staten Island senior Vincent Ohenhen (Staten Island, NY) have been tabbed the 2025 ECC Outdoor Track and Field Male Tri-Athletes of the Year.
Additionally, Roberts Wesleyan’s Mark McCown and District of Columbia’s Simone Grant repeated as the ECC Outdoor Track and Field Coaches of the Year on the men’s and women’s side, respectively, after leading their squads to the 2025 ECC Outdoor Track and Field Championship men’s and women’s team titles.
King competed three times this spring, and the middle performance made history. The RWU graduate student broke the all-time NCAA DII outdoor record in the pole vault at the 97th Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays, clearing 4.75m (15’ 7”); the previous mark had been held by the University of Washington’s Olivia Gruver (4.73m/15’ 6 1/4”). King’s previous PR was also special - a 4.73m (15’ 6 1/4”) to make the United States National Team for the Paris Olympics last summer.
Representing RWU and the ECC at this weekend’s NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, the three-time NCAA Division II champion (’24 indoor, ’24 outdoor, ’25 indoor) is seeded first in the field of 22 and will compete tomorrow, May 24 at 1:00 PM. King is the only three-time NCAA individual champion in ECC history.
McConnelee competed in the discus throw six times, hammer throw five times, and shot put once prior to NCAAs this spring, never finishing below third in 12 opportunities. The RWU freshman opened the outdoor season with a win in the DT (54.67m/179’ 4”) at the Roberts Wesleyan Redhawk Invitational and followed up with another win in the DT (52.20m/171’ 3”) and third-place finish in the HT (48.49m/159’ 1”) at the Geneseo Bill Q Invitational. The month of April saw a trio of outstanding DT and HT performances, highlighted by a career-best DT (56.16m/184’ 3”) at the Geneseo Early Season Invitational and a pair of wins in the DT (55.99m/183’ 8”) and HT (61.13m/200’ 7”) at the Rochester Alumni Invitational.
McConnelee then starred at the ECC Outdoor Track and Field Championships, where he won both the shot put (15.70m/51’ 6 1/4”) and discus (54.66m/179’ 4”) and placed second in the hammer throw with a PR mark (61.67m/202’ 4”) to turn in 28 of Roberts Wesleyan’s 217 total points. His discus throw mark stands as the new meet record. McConnelee is named the ECC Outdoor Track and Field Male Tri-Athlete of the Year after being selected the ECC Outdoor Track and Field Championships Male Co-Athlete of the Meet last week.
Representing RWU and the ECC at this weekend’s NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, McConnelee has earned All-American First Team honors after placing eighth in the hammer throw on Thursday evening, dropping a 60.46m (198’ 4”). McConnelee, the ECC’s reigning outdoor runner-up in the event, entered the meet seeded 11th. He is also seeded fifth in the discus throw, which will be contested tomorrow, May 23.
Mena Jimenez competed in the hammer throw six times, discus throw five times, and shot put four times prior to NCAAs this spring, never finishing below fourth in 13 opportunities. The STAC graduate student kicked off his final outdoor season with five wins in seven events across his first three meets, which included multiple victories at the Misericordia Twilight Meet (SP and HT) and TCNJ Invitational and Multi (DT and HT).
Mena Jimenez then went off at the East Stroudsburg All-American Meet, winning both the DT (55.63m/182’ 6”) and HT (63.63m/208’ 9) with PR marks; the DT performance ranks second in the NCAA East Region and 11th in all of NCAA Division II while his HT performance tops the NCAA East Region and ranks seventh in all of NCAA Division II.
Representing STAC and the ECC at this weekend’s NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, Mena Jimenez earned All-American Second Team honors after placing ninth in the hammer throw on Thursday evening, posting a 59.94m (196’ 8”). He is also seeded 11th in the discus throw, which will be contested tomorrow, May 23. Mena Jimenez won the HT and placed second in the DT at the ECC Outdoor Track and Field Championships and hit his first provisional marks back in late March at the Ramapo College Invitational.
Ohenhen opened his senior outdoor season with a 400m PR (50.42) at the Towson Invitational before anchoring CSI’s second-place 4x100m relay (42.49) at the Delaware Invitational the following weekend. The CSI senior went on to place second in the 100m (11.06) at the TCNJ Invitational and Multi before anchoring both the 4x100m (42.66) and 4x200m (1:28.58, CSI record) relays at the prestigious Penn Relays to close the regular season.
Ohenhen then dominated the sprint events at the ECC Outdoor Track and Field Championships, winning both the 100m (10.80) and 200m (21.98); his 100m performance ties for the top time in the ECC this spring and ranks 12th in the NCAA East Region while his 200m performance tops the ECC as the only sub-22.00 time in the event this spring and ranks ninth in the NCAA East Region. He also anchored the second-place 4x100m relay (42.16, CSI record) at ECCs, which ranks as the second-best time in the conference and ninth in the region. Ohenhen is named the ECC Outdoor Track and Field Male Tri-Athlete of the Year after being selected the ECC Outdoor Track and Field Championships Male Co-Athlete of the Meet last week.
After leading the Redhawks to their third consecutive ECC men’s outdoor title and sixth in program history with 217 points, McCown earns ECC Men’s Outdoor Track and Field Coach of the Year recognition. With McCown at the helm, the Redhawks took down runner-up St. Thomas Aquinas by 84 points.
Grant receives her second consecutive ECC Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Coach of the Year accolade after leading UDC to its third-ever ECC (and second straight) women’s title. Under Grant’s direction, the Firebirds totaled 194 points to defeat runner-up Roberts Wesleyan by 19.