Men's Indoor Track & Field | 3/22/2018 3:26:00 PM

Shippensburg University's Austin Padmore was named the 2018 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Men's Indoor Track & Field Freshman of the Year on Thursday afternoon as the annual awards were announced by the league office.
 
Padmore won the PSAC Championship in the 800 meters this season in his debut individual race at the conference championships – running 1:54.03 to beat reigning champion Khai Samuels of ESU by 0.86 seconds. He becomes the first SU champion in the event since Tom Kehl in 2013, and the first PSAC freshman to win the event since Kehl did it in 2012.
 
Also at this year's PSAC Championships, Padmore contributed to a pair of relays, running the anchor on the second-place 4x400-meter relay and the 4x800-meter relay that finished fourth.
 
Padmore earned two U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-Region classifications – one for his 800-meter run at the PSAC Championships and a second for his role as the 800-meter leg on the distance medley relay that ran 10:20.65 (10:12.34 adjusted) at the Bison Open.
 
Thursday's honor marks the fourth Shippensburg University student-athlete in history to be named the PSAC Men's Indoor Freshman of the Year. Padmore joins Steve Waithe (2012), Herman Kirkland (2011) and Andrew Batula (2009). The PSAC Men's Indoor Freshman of the Year award was first issued in 2005.