SUWANEE, Ga. -- After exclusive voting by the head coaches and sports information directors of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC), the league office today announced its 2024 Women's Outdoor Track & Field postseason awards.
Kendall Accetta of Colorado College earned Track Athlete-of-the-Year honors for the second time in the last three years, while Joy Areola of Trinity University was selected as the Women’s Field Athlete-of-the-Year.
Rounding out the balloting, Peyton Walton of University of St. Thomas was tabbed as Women’s Newcomer-of-the-Year while the Colorado College coaching staff earned Women’s Staff-of-the-Year honors.
The all-conference team is determined by performance at the conference championship meet where the top three finishers in each event are recognized as All-SCAC. Complete All-SCAC Women's Track & Field Team
Accetta, a senior from Portland, Ore., is just the seventh different athlete in SCAC history to win multiple Track Athlete-of-the-Year honors, previously winning back in 2022. She became just the second CC Tiger in program history to earned multiple All-American honors in outdoor track and field at last month’s National Championship when she finished 12th in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Accetta qualified for the final with a program record time of 10:38.73 in the prelims and her 12th-place finish was the highest by any SCAC individual at the 2024 NCAA Championships.
At the 2024 SCAC Championships, Accetta put together a pair of gold medal performances winning both the 1,500-meters and the 3,000-meter steeplechase to help the Tigers capture the program’s first-ever SCAC Track & Field Title. Her wins marked the second time in her career she has climbed to the top of the podium in both events. Accetta’s winning time in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (10:55.33) is the second fastest in SCAC Championship history, while her winning performance in the 1,500-meters (4:39.14) was the fourth fastest time in conference championship history.
Accetta’s honor marks the third time in CC Women’s Track program history as she joins Katie Sandfort (2017) as the only other winner.
Areola, a native from Tomball, Texas capped off a stellar year with a 13th-place finish (11.78m) in the triple jump to earn Second Team All-American honors at last month’s National Championship. At the SCAC Championships, the junior secured a pair of individual titles, winning both the triple jump and the long jump. In the triple jump, Areola became the first woman to win the event three-straight years since Rhodes College’s Jessie Hunt accomplished the feat in 2000, 2001 and 2002. Her winning leap of 12.06 meters was an SCAC Championship record. In the long jump, Areola defended her title, winning for the second-straight year, this time with a mark of 5.46 meters.
A two-time SCAC Field Athlete-of-the-Week honoree during the 2024 season, Areola’s selection is the second consecutive and eighth time overall a Trinity women’s athlete has earned SCAC Field Athlete-of-the-Year honors.
Walton burst onto the scene, winning the 100-meter hurdles at the 2024 SCAC Championship meet breaking the tape in 14.95. It marked just the second SCAC title in St. Thomas program history in the event and the first time since 2019 and just the fifth time in SCAC Championship Meet history, the winning time was clocked in at under 15 seconds. The Katy, Texas native also finished fifth in the 100-meter dash (12.71) and ran a leg on the Celts program record breaking 4x100 meter relay team that earned All-SCAC honors with a third-place finish in a time of 48.11.
Walton’s honor marks the second in St. Thomas track & field history as her teammate Ebonee Nation took home the accolade last year in 2023.
Finally, the conference's Women’s Track & Field Staff of the Year honor went to the Colorado College staff after a record setting year that culminated in the Tigers winning the SCAC women’s track & field championship for the first time in program history. Led by head coach Katie Bretscher the team racked up six individual victories en route to the program’s first-ever SCAC Women’s Track & Field title. This is the first time in program history the Colorado College staff has been honored with SCAC Women’s Staff-of-the-Year honors.
