Canes Earn USTFCCCA Indoor All-America Honors
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Four members of the Miami track and field program earned All-America honors for the 2020 indoor season, as announced by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) on Tuesday.
Debbie Ajagbe, Kevin Arreaga, Raheem Chambers and Tiara McMinn all claimed the prestigious accolade for registering a Top-16 mark in their respective events and reaching the NCAA Championships.
“I’m really happy they were awarded All-America honors for their efforts this indoor season,” Director of track and field Amy Deem said. “Although it’s not the way we wanted to see the season come to an end, they have a lot to be proud of this year. Making it to NCAA’s in indoor isn’t easy and they showed a lot of strength and worked very hard to get to that point. I’m really proud of them.”
Due to the cancellation of the NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Indoor Track & Field Championships in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the USTFCCCA Executive Committee adopted new criteria for this year’s All-America honors.
Based on the start list, for individual events, all student-athletes listed were recognized as All-Americans with no distinction of First Team, Second Team or Honorable Mention.
Ajagbe, whose junior indoor season was one for the record books, earned her first indoor All-America honor after finishing the season ranked No. 5 in the NCAA in the women’s weight throw. The Miami native also added ACC Indoor Championship Shot Put and Weight Throw titles, was the 2020 ACC Indoor Championship Women’s Field MVP, was named the 2020 ACC Indoor Performer of the Year and finished off the conference awards being named the 2020 ACC Track Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
Ajagbe now boasts Miami’s program record in the weight throw at 22.55m and holds the third-best program mark in the shot put at 16.80m.
Arreaga became an indoor All-American for the first time, picking up his third overall All-America recognition after a promising season in the men’s weight throw. The redshirt junior posted Miami’s top weight throw mark in school history at 21.82m, which finished the season ranked No. 14 nationally. He also went on to earn a bronze medal in the weight throw at the ACC Indoor Championships.
Chambers finished the indoor season with the third-fastest time in the NCAA in the men’s 60m dash at 6.57 seconds. When he crossed the finish line at the Vanderbilt Invitational on Jan. 18, Chambers ran the then-second fastest time in the world, earned his second ACC Track Athlete of the Week honor and had the fastest time in Miami history. The senior finished second at the ACC Indoor Championships and claimed his first indoor All-America honor with Miami and sixth career All-America award.
McMinn finished her junior season also ranked No. 3 in the NCAA with her program-leading time of 7.95 seconds in the 60m hurdles. McMinn has run that historic time twice in her career and earned ACC Track Athlete of the Week for the time during the 2020 indoor season. Tuesday’s award his her fifth career All-America honor.
A total of 671 honors from 119 different institutions were awarded on Tuesday. The complete list of All-Americans can be found here.
