PITMAN, NJ --- Montclair State graduate student Christine Griffith (Upper Saddle River, NJ/Northern Highlands) has been selected as the New Jersey Athletic Conference Women’s Outdoor Track & Field Thomas M. Gerrity Most Outstanding Athlete for the 2021 season. Her selection highlighted the NJAC women’s outdoor track & field all-conference team which was announced on May 13. All NJAC special awards were determined by a vote of the league’s head coaches. The all-conference honors were based on performances during the 2021 NJAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

Additionally, TCNJ senior Sam Gorman (Fanwood, NJ/Scotch Plains-Fanwood) was named the 2021 Outstanding Track Athlete; Stockton junior Susann Foley (Tabernacle, NJ/Seneca) was tabbed the 2021 Outstanding Field Athlete; and TCNJ freshman Amanda Demko (Medford, NJ/Shawnee) earned Rookie of the Year honors.

Griffith won the shot put and javelin events at the conference championship, both with AARTFC regional qualifying marks. Her javelin throw of 40.70 meters was the third-farthest in the region and 17th in NCAA Division III this season. She also owns the second-farthest shot put throw in the region and 21st nationally this season with her season-best 13.37 meters set back on April 16. Griffith is a former two-sport athlete who played volleyball and softball during her undergraduate years at William Paterson, including earning 2018 NJAC Softball All-Conference First Team honors. This season marks her first collegiate outdoor track and field season at Montclair State.

Gorman, a four-time NJAC All-Conference honoree, was the only track athlete to win multiple events at this year’s conference meet. She captured gold in the 100- and 200-meter dashes, clocking AARTFC regional qualifying times in both. Her winning time of 12.65 seconds in the 100 meters ranks as the 10th-fastest in the region this year. She was also just .01 second off her season-best 25.43 in the 200 meters, which ranks as the fifth-fastest in the region and top-50 nationally.

Foley earns her first career NJAC All-Conference honor as the Outstanding Field Athlete. She won both the heptathlon and high jump events, both with AARTFC qualifying marks. She collected 3,486 points in the heptathlon, which marks the sixth-best performance in the region in 2021. Foley also cleared 1.60 meters in the high jump to win the conference title. She owns the fifth-best high jump in the region this year (1.63 meters) and is 32nd in NCAA Division III.

Demko, a four-time weekly honoree this season, is named Rookie of the Year after posting a win in the 400 meters and placing fourth in the 200 meters. She clocked an AARTFC qualifying time of 57.91 to win the 400, and currently owns the seventh-fastest 400 time in the region and 22nd-fastest in the nation this season. Demko also clocked a 26.41 in the 200, and the rookie currently owns the 17^th-fastest 200 time in the region this year.

TCNJ head coach Justin Lindsey was selected as the NJAC Women’s Outdoor Coach of the Year by his peers. The eighth-year head coach guided his squad to the NJAC team championship with 11 TCNJ event victories. The honor marks the second time in Lindsey’s career that he has garnered the NJAC Women’s Outdoor Coach of the Year award, and 15th overall between men’s and women’s cross country and outdoor track & field.

 

Thomas M. Gerrity Most Outstanding Athlete:		Christine Griffith, Montclair State
Outstanding Track Athlete:		Sam Gorman, TCNJ
Outstanding Field Athlete:		Susann Foley, Stockton
Rookie of the Year:		Amanda Demko, TCNJ
Coach of the Year:		Justin Lindsey, TCNJ