SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Western Carolina's Dohnavon Hunt was selected as the Male Freshman of the Year by the Southern Conference indoor track & field coaches as the league revealed its specialty awards Wednesday following last weekend's championship. He is the 15th Catamount to win the award and the second straight following Justin Hayes in 2022.
 
Hunt saw action in four events last weekend in the conference championship. The Memphis, Tenn., native began his weekend by running the fastest time in the 60-meter dash preliminary heats as he crossed the finish line in a personal best 6.82. Hunt also qualified for the 200-meter dash finals after recording a time of 21.86 in Saturday's prelims.
 
On Sunday, Hunt earned a fourth-place result in the 60-meter dash before finishing as the SoCon runner-up in the 200-meter dash with a personal best time of 21.60. He scored points by earning a fifth-place result in the men's long jump with a new personal best leap of 7.06 meters (23'2"). Hunt closed out the meet by running a leg of the SoCon Champion 4x400-meter relay team as the Catamounts took first place with a time of 3:17.80.
 
The SoCon handed out eight awards in total which were voted on by the league's nine head coaches. Samford won four awards with Furman claiming two and one each for VMI and Western Carolina.
 
The Catamounts are scheduled to open the 2023 outdoor season March 25-26 at the Weems Baskin Invitational hosted by South Carolina.
 
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WCU's Male SoCon Indoor Track & Field Freshman of the Year:
1999 – Jeremy Carter
2000 – Derrick High
2002 – Milton Bolton
2003 – John Robertson
2004 – James Gregory
2007 – Dominique Young
2008 – Drew Tucker
2010 – Cordell Livingston
2012 – Abraham Faison
2014 – Josh McSwain
2015 – Brenden Caldwell
2016 – Jamie Brown
2019 – Trini Feggett
2022 – Justin Hayes
2023 – Dohnavon Hunt