List of Mesa All-American leaders compiled
Track and field has long been one of the most successful sports on the Mesa roster and now a new set of records points out just how good the men's and women's programs have been over the years.
The two teams have accounted for nine of MCC's 20 national championships and have produced the staggering total of 872 All-Americans since 1967. That number seems incomprehensible, but it must be pointed out that All-American awards are presented to all athletes that score points in the national championship meets. Still, remember, the T-Birds have had 97 individual national champions over those years.
So, if the number of All-Americans is so high, who accumulated the most honors?
That honor goes to Michelle Amete who collected ten All-American awards all in individual events. She picked up the honor in the shot put, discus, hammer and weight throw in 2005 and 2006.
Close behind is Alesha Asijie with nine such honors, also in weight events from 2008-09.
For the men, the record belongs to Pau Tonnesen who gathered nine All-American awards, along with six national championships, from 2012-13. He became the first athlete in NJCAA history to win both of the multi-event titles (decathlon and pentathlon) in each of his two years of competition. He eventually soared all the way to the 2016 Olympic decathlon.
Second for the men is Sheldon Battle who was honored eight times in the weight events from 2003-04.
These lists are not even complete as the members of numerous relay teams are not known.
To see these lists, and other track and field highlights, click the link below.
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