CHARLOTTE, N.C. – High Point sophomore Brianna Malone (Barrington, N.H.) and HPU freshman Camerin Williams (Wilmington, Del.) have been voted the 2024-25 Big South Conference Women's and Men's Track Athletes of the Year, respectively, while High Point graduate student Sydney Horn (Lancaster, Pa.) and Panthers' senior Cole Wilson (Burgessville, Ontario) have been selected the league's 2024-25 Field Athletes of the Year, it was announced today by the Big South Conference office.  The awards are voted on by the Big South track & field head coaches as part of their annual June meeting, and encompass both the indoor track & field and outdoor track & field seasons.
 
Malone is the first High Point runner since 2021 to be voted the Women's Track Athlete of the Year.  She was the Big South Champion in the Indoor 800m and Mile -- the first women's student-athlete to win both events since 2006, in addition to winning the Outdoor 800m and 1,500m.  Malone won the Indoor 800m in a time of 2:10.32 and repeated as the Big South Mile Champion in 4:49.44, along with a runner-up finish in the 3,000m run (9:36.18).  During the indoor season, she broke three Big South records.  Her time of 2:47.82 in winning the 1,000m at the Brant Tolsma Invitational on Jan. 25 bettered the old mark by two seconds.  Malone's 4:35.62 effort in the Mile at the Doc Hale Meet on Feb. 7 eclipsed the league's 23-year old record by just under three seconds, while her time of 9:09.58 in the 3,000m run at the David Hemery Valentine Invitational on Feb. 15 surpassed the old conference record by nearly 14 seconds.  In the outdoor campaign, Malone broke the Big South's record in the 1,500m at the NCAA Division I East First Round Meet with a time of 4:11.37 -- just :0.31 seconds shy of qualifying for Eugene.  She repeated as the Big South Champion in the 1,500m run with a Meet-record time of 4:19.78, and set a Championship Meet-record in winning the 800m with a time of 2:05.34, which is third-fastest in conference history.  Malone was the 800m winner at both the Webb Davidson Meet (2:10.19) and Aggie Invitational (2:07.17), and set a PR in the 5,000m run with a time of 16:37.35 at the Duke Invitational on April 12 (16th all-time in league annals).
 
Williams is the first HPU Panther since 2013 to be voted the Big South Men's Track Athlete of the Year.  The true freshman competed in eight different events during the indoor season -- mile, 4x400m, 400m, 1,000m, 600m, 800m, 500m and the DMR.  He won three gold medals at the Big South Indoor Track & Field Championships, as he won the 800m in a Meet-record time of 1:49.49, which is second-fastest in Big South history.  He was also a member of the winning 4x400m and DMR, which set Championship Meet records with times of 3:11.14 and 9:54.14, respectively.  Williams' indoor season included a Big South-record time of 1:18.23 in winning the 600m at the Gamecock Challenge, while his 1:02.01 in the 500m at the Doc Hale VT Meet is third-fastest in the conference record book.  Williams also recorded a time of 2:26.94 in the 1,000m for seventh all-time in league annals.  In the outdoor season, Williams competed in four difference events (1,500m, 4x400m, 400m and 800m), won the Big South 800m with a Meet-record time of 1:47.37, and was a member of HPU's gold-winning 4x400m relay (3:07.58).  He finished first six times this past spring (four – 4x400m, two – 800m), ran a 1:47.11 to qualify for the finals of the 800m at the NCAA Division I East First Round, and posted a PR of 1:46.81 to win the 800m at the USA Track & Field U20 Championships this past weekend to break the school record.
 
Horn is the first-ever four-time winner of the Big South Women's Field Athlete of the Year award.  She earned All-America honors in the pole vault in both the indoor and outdoor seasons, and earned the Most Outstanding Performance at the Big South Indoor Championship with her clearance of 4.45m in winning her fourth consecutive pole vault title -- becoming the first four-time Champion in the event in Big South history.  Horn finished seventh at the National Indoor Meet with a height of 4.40m for her fourth career First-Team All-America honor.  During the indoor season, she cleared at least 4.40m four times, re-set her own Big South pole vault record when she cleared 4.57m at the Virginia Tech Challenge on Feb. 21, and was the event winner six times in her nine starts.  Horn won the pole vault three times during the outdoor campaign -- including the Liberty Twilight Qualifier with a Big South-record clearance of 4.46m.  She finished second at the NCAA Division I East First Round (4.24m) to qualify for the National Championship Meet in Eugene, where she finished 10th to earn Second-Team All-America accolades -- marking her ninth career All-America honor.
 
Wilson is the first-ever Big South student-athlete to earn All-America distinction in the heptathlon and decathlon in the same season, as well as the first to win back-to-back Big South titles in both events.  Wilson won the Big South heptathlon with a Championship-Meet record 5,705 points, and he also owns the overall league record of 5,772, which he set at the Liberty Kickoff back in December.  He established an indoor PR in the pole vault with a clearance of 5.00m at the Division I Pre-National Meet in February, becoming one of 13 student-athletes in conference history to clear 5.00m.  Wilson capped the indoor season with a 14th-place finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships with a total of 5,571 points for Second-Team All-America honors.  In the outdoor season, Wilson won the Big South decathlon with a Meet-record 7,609 points -- capturing nine of the 10 events along with a second-place finish in the 400m.  His performance qualified him for the 24th and final spot at the National Championship Meet in Eugene, where he finished 11th with a PR total of 7,662 points for Second-Team All-America accolades.
 
Finalists for the Big South's annual Track & Field awards were:
 
Women's Track Athlete of the Year: Sienna Bailey (Radford)
 
Men's Track Athlete of the Year: DeMarr Harvey (UNC Asheville)
 
Women's Field Athlete of the Year: Rachel Davis (USC Upstate)
 
Men's Field Athlete of the Year: Quentin Peterson (Gardner-Webb)