Winthrop’s Marthaline Cooper named Big South field athlete of the year
Campbell sophomore Lawrence Kipkoech and Liberty sophomore Ednah Kurgat have been voted the 2015-16 Big South Conference Men’s and Women’s Runner of the Year, respectively, while Charleston Southern senior Braxton Drummond and Winthrop junior Marthaline Cooper have been selected the league’s 2015-16 Field Athletes of the Year. The awards - announced by the league office on Wednesday - are voted on by the Big South head cross country/track and field coaches as part of their annual June meeting, and encompass the entire cross country, indoor track and field and outdoor track and field seasons.
Cooper is the first repeat winner of the women’s field athlete of the year award following a campaign in which she earned First-Team All-America honors in both indoor and outdoor competition. She won her second consecutive weight throw title at the Big South Indoor Track and Field Championships in late February with a toss of 21.19 meters -- more than three meters farther than the runner-up. She qualified for the NCAAs following her school-record throw of 21.94 meters Feb. 19 at the Virginia Tech Challenge, which was the second-longest throw in the nation. Cooper recorded a sixth place standing in the National meet with a throw of 21.24 meters in March.
During the outdoor season, Cooper captured third place in the hammer throw at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championship in Eugene last week with a school-record distance of 65.21 meters (213 feet, 11 inches). Her standing is the highest finish for a Winthrop athlete in the NCAA Championships (both indoor and outdoor).
The Rhode Island native qualified for Eugene for the second straight year following her 10th-place finish at Prelims, and was the Big South hammer throw champion for the third consecutive season. She won that event by 3.5 meters as she reached 61.53 meters on her fourth attempt. A four-time Big South Athlete of the Week honoree in 2015-16, Cooper broke her own school hammer throw record at Nationals, as she initially set the mark on March 25 with a distance of 64.04 meters at the Winthrop Adidas Invitational.
This story was originally published June 16, 2016 at 4:01 PM with the headline "Winthrop’s Marthaline Cooper named Big South field athlete of the year."