Alesha Lane Named CUSA Field Performer of the Meet

DALLAS – Awards continue to roll in for NM State following the 2026 Conference USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships. Alesha Lane earned the CUSA Field Performer of the Meet award, one of six superlatives announced by the conference on Friday.
 
Lane, a senior from Casper, Wyo., earned the distinction after posting a career day in Murfreesboro, recording the highest individual point total among field athletes (17).

Beginning on Thursday, Alesha Lane recorded a personal best mark in the hammer throw (51.57 meters) to take eighth place and score points in the event at a championship meet for the first time in her collegiate career.
 
On Friday, Lane returned for the shot put – a high-stakes battle that came down to the last throw. Already posting a new personal best in the prelims (15.91m), she moved into first place with a best throw of 16.05 meters – the second farthest mark in NM State history. This became the first individual championship for Lane and the farthest throw at the championship meet since 2024.
 
Closing out her weekend at the CUSA Championships on Saturday, the fourth-year Aggie tallied her second podium finish of the weekend, taking third in the discus with a best mark of 52.35m.
 
Lane wraps her collegiate career with six podium finishes between indoor and outdoor CUSA Championships (four times in the shot put, twice in the discus).

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Competing in the shot put at the NCAA West First Round on Thursday, Lane will return to John McDonnell Field at the University of Arkansas on Saturday, May 30, for the discus, aiming to advance to the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships held June 10-13.  
 
For complete coverage of NM State Track & Field, visit NMStateSports.com – the official home of Aggie athletics – and follow us on Twitter (@NMStateXCTF), Instagram (@NMStateXCTF), and like us on Facebook (NMStateTrackXC).

Conference USA Announcement of 2026 Outdoor Track & Field Postseason Awards

DALLAS – Following a competitive championship weekend, Conference USA has awarded the Performers of the Meet and Men’s and Women’s Coach of the Year as voted on by the league’s head coaches.

With a handful of outstanding races, Middle Tennessee’s Mustapha Bokpin has earned the title of Men’s Track Performer of the Meet. Bokpin electrified the track during the championship in the 100 and 200-meter dash. In the 100, he recorded a personal best of 9.94, meeting the Olympic qualifying standard, breaking the meet record and soaring to No. 5 in the NCAA. The sophomore followed up with a dominant win in the 200, setting another personal and meet record at 20.26. Bokpin’s stellar performance also earned him the title of CUSA Men’s High Point Scorer.

On the women’s side, LA Tech’s Jamara Patterson has been named the Track Performer of the Meet. Patterson won gold at the championship while setting a new 400-meter meet record with a time of 51.43. That finish marked a personal best, placed her No. 26 in the NCAA and is the fastest outdoor time in program history for the Bulldogs. The junior has now broken LA Tech’s 400 record on four separate occasions this season. She was also a part of the Bulldogs’ winning 4×400-meter relay team where she ran the second leg.

Winning Men’s Field Performer of the Meet is Kennesaw State’s Gage Voyles. In the high jump championship, Voyles cleared 2.27 meters (7-5.25) to win the gold medal. That mark set a school record, leads the conference and ranks second in the NCAA this season. It is also tied for the second-highest winning clearance in CUSA Championship history.

New Mexico State’s Alesha Lane has been named the Women’s Field Performer of the Meet. The 2026 CUSA Shot Put Champion tallied the highest individual point total (17) of any field athlete at the championship meet. Her mark of 16.05-meters is the furthest throw in the championships since 2024, while setting a new personal best and qualifying her for the NCAA West First Round in Fayetteville. Lane will also compete in the discus at John McDonnell Field, after taking third in the event at the CUSA Championships with a best mark of 52.35 meters. In the hammer throw, the senior recorded a new personal best of 51.57 meters to take eighth place. 

Head coach for the Flames, Lance Bingham has earned the title of Men’s and Women’s Coach of the Year after sweeping the outdoor championship team titles. For the men, Bingham coached Liberty to the CUSA title with the largest margin of victory (97 points) in the meet’s 30-year history. The Flames scored points in 18 of the19 events they entered, winning seven of them. In the events Bingham directly oversees, Liberty went 1-2-3-4 in the decathlon and 2-3-5 in the pole vault. On the women’s side, Bingham coached the Lady Flames to their third-straight CUSA outdoor title with a 40-point victory over indoor champion Kennesaw State. Liberty scored points in 18 of 20 events, winning five of them. The heptathletes that Bingham coaches finished 1-4-6, including a pair of 5,000-point scorers. He also coached Katie Urbine to third place in the pole vault for Liberty’s first-ever All-CUSA performance in the event.

2026 CUSA Outdoor Track and Field Postseason Awards

• Men’s Track Performer of the Meet 
  • Mustapha Bokpin, MTSU
• Women’s Track Performer of the Meet 
  • Jamara Patterson, LA Tech
• Men’s Field Performer of the Meet 
  • Gage Voyles, KSU
• Women’s Field Performer of the Meet 
  • Alesha Lane, NM State
• Men’s and Women’s Coach of the Year
  •  Lance Bingham, Liberty