MUNCIE – – Ball State University head track coach Adrian Wheatley has been named the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Great Lakes Region Women’s Coach of the Year; and star high jumper and heptathlete Charity Griffith was named the Great Lakes Region Women’s Field Athlete of the Year.
Wheatley has reshaped the Ball State track culture from a program that finished ninth in the Mid-American Conference Outdoor Championships in 2022, to a program that won its first MAC title since 2001 and sent star athletes Griffith and Jenelle Rogers to top-five finishes in the NCAA Championships. As a team, Ball State finished 17th at last week’s NCAA Championships – its highest finish ever. Griffith and Rogers both earned first-team All-America honors and sprinter Alana Springer was named earlier as the MAC Freshman Performer of the Year. In his second season leading the Cardinals, Ball State broke three school records and won three MAC individual championships.
Griffith is now a three-time All-American who broke barriers last week in becoming Ball State’s first national champion since 1999. She won the NCAA Outdoor high jump competition with a leap of 1.93m (6-4), breaking three personal bests in the final night of competition. She was the only athlete to clear at least 1.90m at the championship. Griffith helped the Cardinals to the league title as the MAC outdoor high jump champion, while finishing second in the heptathlon and third in the 110m hurdles.
