Texas A&M senior Lindon Victor was named National Field Athlete of the Year for a season that included breaking the collegiate record in the decathlon twice, along with defending his titles at the SEC and NCAA Championships.
It’s the second consecutive year that the Grenadian has won the award.
National Athletes of the Year for the 2017 NCAA Division I Outdoor track and field season were announced on Wednesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.
Victor first broke the 11-year-old collegiate record in the decathlon with a score of 8,472 points to become Texas A&M’s first Texas Relays decathlon champion. He bettered the previous collegiate and meet record of 8,465 set by Trey Hardee in 2006.
While breaking the collegiate record, Victor also produced the best first-day score in the decathlon by a college athletes. His first day tally of 4,516 bettered the previous score of 4,500 set by Oregon’s Ashton Eaton in the 2010 NCAA Championships.
During the SEC Championships, Victor improved his collegiate record to a score of 8,539 points and generated the best-ever second-day score by a collegian with his total of 4,174 points, which topped the previous best of 4,145 by Arizona’s Jake Arnold at the 2007 NCAA meet. Victor also improved his collegiate best in the decathlon discus to 181-2 (55.22).
With a pair of collegiate records and a successful SEC title defense, Victor defended his NCAA title with a score of 8,390 points, the seventh best performance on the collegiate all-time list.
Victor also became just the fifth individual to successfully defend an NCAA decathlon title and on the all-time collegiate list his performances rank Nos. 1, 2, 6, 7, and 8. His average score among the three decathlons he has contested as a senior in 2017 is 8,467 points.
