Photo - WKU Athletics
Current Western Kentucky Track & Field head coach Erik Jenkins and former Hilltopper standouts Sharika Smith and Christina Brown Wells were recognized at Saturday’s KTCCCA/USATF-Kentucky Awards Program for their accomplishments. Jenkins was tabbed as the 2017 University Men’s Track and Field Coach of the Year while Smith and Wells were both inducted into the Kentucky Track and Cross Country Association Hall of Fame in Lexington.
The pair of former student-athletes on The Hill represent two of the 13 inductees in this year’s class. Jenkins himself was inducted into the Kentucky Track & Cross Country Hall of Fame in January 2016.
During her time at WKU from 2009-13, Smith collected seven indoor individual All-Conference honors from the Sun Belt and four more outdoor accolades. Smith set both the long jump and triple jump indoor records during the 2011 campaign and remains at the top of the board with jumps of 20’7″ and 42’3.5″, respectively. Smith also owns the outdoor triple jump record of 44’1.25″, set in 2013. Following her first campaign on The Hill, Smith was tabbed the Women’s SBC Indoor Track Freshman of the Year in 2009 and made trips to the NCAA Championships all four years for a combined six events, returning to Bowling Green with three All-American accolades.
Wells spent 1993-98 on The Hill and specialized in distance events for the Red and White. She was recognized on the Women’s Sun Belt Conference All-Time Cross Country Team, posting top-four finishes at the conference meet three consecutive seasons (1994-96). On the indoor track, Wells notched eight All-Conference showings and was named to the Women’s SBC All-Time Indoor Track & Field Team. Wells added three more All-Conference honors during the outdoor season.
Across his 10 years in Bowling Green as a coach, Jenkins has racked up 30 collective team titles with the most recent coming during the 2017 outdoor season as the WKU men returned from El Paso, Texas, with the Conference USA crown.
(Courtesy WKU Athletics)
