NEW ORLEANS, La. - For the second straight season, Joseph Oreva was named the USTFCCCA Southeast Region Men's Indoor Field Athlete of the Year on Friday, Mar. 18.
Member coaches voted on these honors following the completion of the 2022 NCAA DII Indoor Track & Field Championships in Pittsburg, Kansas, but considered performances from both that meet as well as during the regular season.
Despite an indoor season full of nagging injuries, Oreva still competed at a high level, winning two event championships, including the SAC championship, in the long jump and earning first-team All-American honors for the second straight indoor season.
In his first competition of the season at the Tiger Paw Invite, the Port Harcourt, Nigeria native won the long jump with a jump of 7.24 meters. Oreva was one of just two athletes at the meet to reach the seven meter mark. The win gave Oreva his fifth career win in the event.
At the conference championships, Oreva claimed his second straight SAC Championship in the long jump after winning the event at the 2021 Outdoor Championships. The sophomore needed just one jump to win the championship, clearing a distance of 7.43 meters to take home gold in the event. That mark moved Oreva up to a tie with David Kizan of Lincoln (Mo,) for the eleventh longest jump in all of Division-II. The mark set a new conference record, beating the mark set by Christian Shouse at the 2020 meet.
Entering the NCAA National Championships as the fourteen seed, Oreva recorded a pair of 7.47 meter long jumps in the finals, his longest of the season. That mark was good enough to earn sixth place at the event, rewarding Oreva with his second straight first-team All-American award. He is the first Eagle to earn back-to-back indoor All-American honors in the long jump since the award was introduced by the USTFCCCA in 2016.
This is the fourth time that a Carson-Newman athlete has earned the USTFCCCA Southeast Region Men's Indoor Field Athlete of the Year honor since the award was introduced in 2016. Tanner Stepp won the honor in 2016, while Christian Shouse won the award in 2020. C-N has claimed the award three years in a row, with all three awards being won by members of the jumps squad.
Oreva is the second athlete in the award's history to earn back-to-back honors, the first being Lawrence Russell, Jr. of Barton in 2018 and 2019.
The Eagles will look to add to the trophy case during the outdoor season, heading to Cleveland, Tenn. for the Lee Invitational this weekend.
