Five Cougar Track & Field Athletes Named NEC Prime Performers in First Week of Season

CHICAGO, Ill. – The NEC has announced their first weekly conference awards of the track and field season on Tuesday. Two women and three men’s Cougars were named NEC Prime Performers. On the women’s side Lena Cleveland and Aliyah Ferguson earned honors, while on the men’s side, Xavier Beatty, Earnest Davenport, and Faustin Kaseba were named with weekly honors.

At the Cougar Alumni open Lena Cleveland (Southfield, Michigan) opened her season by winning the triple jump and getting second place in the long jump. The sophomore leaped 11.32 meters in the triple jump and 5.59 meter in the long jump. Both of those marks from Cleveland are the farthest marks so far in the NEC. Cleveland’s teammate Aliyah Ferguson (Ypsilanti, Michigan) earned prime performer honors after winning the 60 meter hurdles in the first meet of her career. The freshman ran an 8.90 preliminary time and then backed that up with a 8.85 second run in the finals. The freshman hurdler also holds the top time in the conference.

On the men’s side, the Cougars had three prime performers awarded. Freshman horizontal jumper Xavier Beatty (Reading, Pennsylvania) won both the long jump and triple jump at the Cougar Alumni Open. Beatty opened his season with a 7.43 meter jump in the long jump and leaped 14.24 meters in the triple jump to claim both wins. The freshman currently holds the conference lead in both events. Fellow freshman Faustin Kaseba (Atlanta, Georgia) opened his career with a 8.22 second run in the 60 meter hurdles to finish third at the Cougar Alumni Open. Despite finishing third, Kaseba sits atop the standing of the 60 meter hurdles in the NEC. The third Cougar to earn prime performer honors was high jumper Earnest Davenport (Madison, Illinois). At the Cougar Alumni Open, the sophomore leaped to a an eight centimeter personal best to clear 2.08 meters to win the high jump event. Davenport sits second in the conference after his performance. 

The Chicago State track & field teams return to the track on Saturday, January 10 as they compete in the Wisconsin Midwest Invitational hosted by the University of Wisconsin from the Dr. Conrad Worrill Track & Field Center at Gately Park here in Chicago.