Editor’s Note: The following is an official press release courtesy of LSU’s athletics department.
NEW ORLEANS – Godson Oghenebrume of the LSU track and field program was recognized by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross-Country Coaches Association on Thursday. Oghenebrume was named the South-Central Region Men’s Track Athlete of the Year.
Oghenebrume’s new honor marks the third year in-a-row that the men have taken home the outdoor regional athlete of the year nod. Eric Edwards Jr. took home last year’s honor, while the year before was Terrance Laird. This is LSU’s seventh regional outdoor men’s track athlete of the year honor, the most of any school in the region.
The sophomore is fresh off an astounding performance at the NCAA Outdoor Championships a week ago. He took home gold with the collegiate-record holding 4×100-meter relay team after clocking a time of 38.05 seconds. The team clocked seven top-10 times on this season’s collegiate performance list and five on the all-time collegiate performance list.
The Ughelli, Nigeria, native also took silver in the men’s 100 meter with a time of 9.90 seconds, which ranks second in LSU history behind Olympian Richard “Torpedo” Thompson (9.89). Thompson won this same regional award during the 2008 outdoor season. Entering this season, Oghenebrume had a legal personal best of 10.12 seconds in the 100, shaving .22 seconds off for his new PR. His time of 9.90 ranks third in Nigerian history, seventh in African history, and seventh in NCAA history.
This honor goes along with his two First Team All-American nods, two First Team All-SEC honors, two SEC titles (4×100, 100), and two SEC weekly honors from this outdoor season.