A Perfect Season | Eldred Henry Crowned as Nation's Top Field Athlete
Findlay, Ohio – After putting together arguably to most dominant season for any field athlete in school history, junior Eldred Henry has been named as the US Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Outdoor Men's Field Athlete of the Year.
In the 2019 outdoor season, the British Virgin Islands native competed in his signature event, the shot put, in four meets and took first place in each one. Those meets included a pair of Division I, Southeastern Conference (SEC) meets, the Florida Relays and the Tennessee Relays. For the indoor and outdoor seasons combined, Henry was a perfect nine-for-nine in shot put competitions.
After setting the NCAA DII indoor shot put record at the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) Championship, Henry made sure his name topped the list in the outdoor season, as well. At the national championship meet this past weekend, Findlay's thrower set a new DII record with a throw that measured 21.47m (70-5.25) to become the first DII athlete ever to break the 70-foot mark. That throw also ranks seventh in the world this season. All his throws from this season included, Henry now owns the first, fourth, seventh, twelfth, fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth-best marks in Division II history.
Henry, who also earned all-American status in the discus throw this outdoor season, is first male athlete at Findlay to earn National Athlete of the Year in the outdoor season and joins Kirby Blackley (2008 – outdoor) and Justin Welch (2015 – indoor) as just the third track and field athlete to earn the nation's top honor.