ST. LOUIS -- The Missouri Valley Conference announced its weekly award winners for indoor track and field on Wednesday.
Casey Hood Jr. started his 2025-26 season with a bang, claiming first-place finishes in both the 60m and 200m with meet record times at the John Gartland Invitational. The 2025 Second Team All-American clocked times of 6.71 in prelims and 6.63 in finals to win the 60m, breaking meet and facility records in the process, and he closed out his season debut with a 21.87 in the 200m, breaking the meet record by more than three-tenths of a second. Hood Jr.’s 60m time ranks third in the nation this season and is also the fastest in both the MVC and Great Lakes Region, while his conference-leading 200m time is also second in the Great Lakes Region and 13th nationally.
Carter Morton receives the honor after a breakout performance at the Jimmy Grant Alumni Invitational in Iowa City on Saturday, winning the heptathlon with a UNI and Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) record 6,054 points, becoming the first heptathlete in Panther and conference to surpass 6,000 points. In his record breaking performance, Morton set new career-best marks in the shot put (43' 10 ½"), high jump (7' ¼"), 60-meter hurdles (8.19) and the 1,000 meters (2:45.76). Morton leads all of Division I with the highest heptathlon score and is the only heptathlete this year in the nation to surpass 6,000 points. His marks at the Jimmy Grant Alumni Invitational in the high jump and long jump also rank fifth and seventh respectively in Division I this season. He was also named the USTFCCCA National Athlete of the Week on Monday for his performance.
Reneisha Andrews made an instant impression in her Indiana State debut, breaking meet and facility records in the 60m at the John Gartland Invitational. The Trinidad and Tobago native ran a 60m time of 7.51 in prelims and followed that with a 7.40 in finals, both of which broke the meet and facility records in the event. Andrews’ 60m time ranks ninth in the nation this season while also leading both the MVC and Great Lakes Region in the event.
Aliseonna Garnett recorded a pair of commanding first-place finishes in the throws events at the John Gartland Invitational, posting conference leading and top-25 national marks in both the shot put and weight throw. Her weight throw mark of 18.77m (61-7) was a career best in the event, while her throw of 15.48m (50-9.5) was the second-best mark of her career in the event. Garnett leads the MVC and ranks in the top three of the Great Lakes region in both throws events this season, with her shot put mark sitting 13th in the nation and her weight throw mark ranked 22nd in the nation.