Pac-12 announces 2017 track & field awards

SAN FRANCISCO - OREGON sprinters Kyree King and Deajah Stevens were voted the Pac-12 Men’s and Women’s Track Athletes of the Year, while UCLA's Isaiah Holmes and ARIZONA STATE’s Maggie Ewen were tabbed the Pac-12 Men’s and Women’s Field Athletes of the Year, the Conference office announced on Wednesday.

Additionally, Holmes and USC's Anna Cockrell were selected the Pac-12 Men’s and Women’s Track & Field Freshmen of the Year, and OREGON's Robert Johnson was voted both the Pac-12 Men’s and Women's Coach of the Year.

Men's Track Athlete of the Year: Kyree King, OREGON

The redshirt senior from Ontario, Calif., was named Athlete of the Meet at the Pac-12 Championships after totaling a meet-high 22.5 points toward Oregon's winning total of 175. King became the first-ever Oregon men's sprinter to win the 100-meter dash and sweep both the 100 and 200 at the Pac-12 Championships, including a wind-aided 100 mark of 10.09 that registers on the Conference's all-time performance list. King is the sixth Duck to win the honor, including the second straight following Devon Allen in 2016.

Women's Track Athlete of the Year: Deajah Stevens, OREGON

The Bowerman Award candidate wowed the home Hayward Field crowd at the Pac-12 Championships, becoming the fourth Oregon women's sprinter in the past six years to sweep both the 100- and 200-meter dashes. The junior from Westchester, N.Y., ran the 200 in 22.09, which not only shattered the Pac-12 meet and all-time records, but is also the second-fastest time in NCAA history and tied as the fastest in the world this year. She also ran the second leg of Oregon's victorious 4x100 relay to amass 22.5 points for her team's winning 189 total. Stevens is the seventh Duck to win the honor, including the fifth in the last eight years and second in a row following teammate Hannah Cunliffe in 2016.

Women's Field Athlete of the Year: Maggie Ewen, ARIZONA STATE

Ewen, one of two throwers on the 10-athlete Bowerman Award watch list, was named Pac-12 Championships Athlete of the Meet after becoming just the fourth woman to win three events in the same meet – joining UCLA’s Gail Devers (1987, 1988) and Seilala Sua (1999), and Oregon’s Jenna Prandini (2014) – with her victories in the shot put, discus and hammer. Already the American collegiate record holder in the hammer, the redshirt junior from St. Francis, Minn., set a Pac-12 Championships record in the event by becoming the first-ever to break the 70-meter mark at the title meet with a throw of 70.20m. She is the third Sun Devil to earn the award along with Sarah Stevens (2007, 2009) and Jacquelyn Johnson (2008).

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Men's Field Athlete and Freshman of the Year: Isaiah Holmes, UCLA 

Holmes won the high jump, finished second in the long jump and fifth in the triple jump to amass 22 points at the Pac-12 Championships, only narrowly behind Oregon's Kyree King for Athlete of the Meet honors. He's the first Bruins freshman to win the Conference long jump title, and only the third rookie in the last 30 years to win the Pac-12 long jump crown. The Roseville, Calif., native is the first to win both the league’s Athlete and Freshman of the Year awards in the same season and joins former Bruins hurdler Kevin Craddock in 2006 as winners of the Conference's Freshman of the Year award.

Women's Freshman of the Year: Anna Cockrell, USC

The rookie from Charlotte, N.C., was the highest-scoring freshman at the Pac-12 Championships, totaling 18.50 points with runner-up finishes in the 100- and 400-meter hurdles, as well as running the third leg of USC's victorious 4x400 relay team. Cockrell is the only freshman in the country to appear in the NCAA’s top 10 times in both the 100 (12.91, ninth) and 400 (55.51, third) hurdles. She is the first Trojan woman to earn the league's freshman of the year award since 2007.

Men's and Women's Track & Field Coach of the Year: Robert Johnson, OREGON

Johnson guided his Oregon programs to record-setting triumphs at the 2017 Pac-12 Championships. He helped the men's team to a record 11th consecutive title and the women's program to a ninth straight crown, giving the Ducks the most men's and women's title sweeps (nine) of any program in Conference history. Both his men's and women's teams won a meet-best seven events at Pac-12's, which marked the most-ever in a single Pac-12 Championships for the Oregon men. Johnson has had the Oregon women ranked either No. 1 or 2 this entire season, including a national-best five weeks at the top spot, while the men have spent six weeks in the top 10. It marks the second straight women's honor and fourth in Johnson's five years leading the Ducks, and is also his third all-time men's award in his five seasons at the helm.