Azusa Pacific University won its seventh consecutive men’s and women’s track and field titles this spring, so maybe it makes sense that they also captured seven of the Pacific West Conference special awards, voted on by the league’s coaches.

Those seven awards were captured by five people, as Jack Hoyt was the Coach of the Year for both men and women, and APU multi ace Esther Condin-Turpin was also a double winner as the Field Athlete of the Year and the Track Freshman of the Year.

Additional APU winners for the women were Jaylah Walker (Track Athlete of the Year) and Hannah Richardson (Field Freshman of the Year). The Cougars won all five women’s awards.

For the men, Lincoln Krug (Co-Field Athlete of the Year) represented the Cougars, while Academy of Art placed Robin Black on the list (Track Athlete of the Year) and Yacouba Gnacko (Co-Field Athlete of the Year). Garrett Fox from Fresno Pacific is the Track Freshman of the Year and Ian Patton of Concordia is the Field Freshman of the Year.

Jack Hoyt is the architect behind Azusa Pacific’s two recent titles and many before that. The awards were his eighth and ninth PacWest Coach of the Year honors, winning his first one in 2018. In 2023, the Cougars won the men’s title by 58 points and the women’s by 93. The seven straight trophies for both the men and the women ties for second most in the history of the PacWest Conference—tied with seven men’s cross country crowns won by California Baptist, and behind BYU-Hawaii’s 16 consecutive women’s tennis championships. Hoyt was the 2021 national coach of the year after leading the Cougars to the NCAA Division II national title. Previously, he coached as an assistant at UCLA and Cal Poly SLO, and was the head coach at Seattle Pacific prior to that.

Esther Condin-Turpin took the conference by storm this year and also took home two awards. The native of France is the Field Athlete of the Year and the Freshman Track Athlete of the Year, with very noticeable  marks and times in both. Most impressive is her heptathlon total of 6,007—the highest in the nation this year and the second highest ever in NCAA Division II. She ranks in the top 10 nationally in the 100 hurdles (3^rd, 13.22), the long jump (5^th, 20-4 ½), and the high jump (7^th, 5-8). At the PacWest Championships, where she was named Field Athlete of the Meet, she won the high jump, was second in the shot put, third in the long jump, fourth in the javelin, first in the 100 hurdles and ran on the APU 4x400 relay team that placed second.

Jaylah Walker is the Track Athlete of the Year. The senior from Riverside was the PacWest Track Athlete of the Meet, scoring a massive amount of points to help her Cougars to the team title. She ranks second in Division II in the 400 hurdles (57.37) and lists fourth in the 100 hurdles (13.32). She also has a national qualifying time in the 400 meters (55.72). She ran legs on both relays for the Cougars and won the 200 meters (23.71) at the PacWest meet. She broke the PacWest record in the 100 hurdles, topped only by her teammate Esther Condin-Turpin to finish second.
 
Hannah Richardson completes the APU sweep on the women’s side as the Field Freshman of the Year. The San Ramon, Calif. native was a big point scorer in the PacWest meet for the Cougars, placing second in the discus, third in the shot put and fifth in the hammer. She ranks second in the PacWest in the discus (147-11), is first in the shot put (48-0) and lists fifth in the hammer (138-1). In the past calendar year since high school, she has improved over 20 feet in the discus and ten plus feet in the shot put. This is her first year competing in the hammer, where she has the fifth best throw in the conference.

For the men, Lincoln Krog (APU) is the Co-Field Athlete of the Year. The decathlete has the highest point total in the 10-events this year heading into the national championships with 7,311 points. He competed in seven events at the conference meet, helping the Cougars win the PacWest Title. The sophomore from Carson, Wash. shares the award with Academy of Art’s Yacoba Gnacko, a sophomore from Paris. Gnacko won the PacWest triple jump with a meet record distance of 52-3 ¼. That mark is the second best in Division II. Gnacko also placed second at the conference championships in the long jump with a leap of 24-8 ¼.

Gnacko’s teammate Robin Black is the PacWest Track Athlete of the Year. The junior from Jamaica scored 28 points at the PacWest Championships and was named the Most Outstanding Track Athlete. Black won the 100 meters (10.17), the 400 hurdles (52.72) and the 4x100 relay. He has the fourth fastest time in Division II in the 400 hurdles, and broke the conference meet record this year. His 100 meter time is the eighth fastest this year nationally, and his 4x400 relay team has the fastest time in the nation and the sixth fastest in Division II history (3:05.20). Black transferred to Academy of Art this year from Western Texas College.

The Track Freshman of the Year is Garrett Fox of Fresno Pacific. Fox was the top freshman scorer at the PacWest meet (14.5 points) with a third place finish in the 100 meters (10.45), was fourth in the 200 (21.07) and ran the second leg on the 4x100 (40.57) that was second and the 4x400 relay (3:14.11) that crossed the line third. The Clovis, Calif. native has national qualifying marks in both the 100 and 200 meters.

The Field Freshman of the Year is Concordia’s Ian Patton. The decathlon newcomer won the PacWest championships in the 10-event marathon, tallying 6,109 points. He also placed fifth in the javelin (173-8) and totaled 14 total team points for the Golden Eagles at the PacWest meet. This was the first collegiate decathlon event for the Oregon native.

Next up for this group and a number of other PacWest track and field athletes is the NCAA Division II National Championships, May 25-27, at the CSU Pueblo ThunderBowl in Pueblo, Colorado.
 
 

2023 ALL-PACWEST MEN'S TRACK AND FIELD AWARDS
Track Athlete of the Year	Robin Black	Academy of Art
Co-Field Athlete of the Year	Lincoln Krug	Azusa Pacific
Co-Field Athlete of the Year	Yacouba Gnacko	Academy of Art
Track Freshman of the Year	Garrett Fox	Fresno Pacific
Field Freshman of the Year	Ian Patton	Concordia
Coach of the Year	Jack Hoyt	Azusa Pacific

2023 ALL-PACWEST WOMEN'S TRACK AND FIELD AWARDS
Track Athlete of the Year	Jaylah Walker	Azusa Pacific
Field Athlete of the Year	Esther Condin-Turpin	Azusa Pacific
Track Freshman of the Year	Esther Condin-Turpin	Azusa Pacific
Field Freshman of the Year	Hannah Richardson	Azusa Pacific
Coach of the Year	Jack Hoyt	Azusa Pacific