NEW ORLEANS, La. — Tusculum University senior sprinter Jahzara Hart has earned another postseason accolade as she has been voted the Southeast Region Track Athlete of the Year by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.
Tusculum head coach Robert Williams was also honored by the USTFCCCA as the Southeast Region Women’s Coach of the Year after leading the Pioneers to a fifth-place finish at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championship.
Hart won two national championships and had a third-place finish to earn the High Point Award at nationals. She is the fourth Pioneer to earn Southeast Region Athlete of the Year Honors from the USTFCCCA, joining Widchard Guervil (2018 men’s outdoor track and 2022 men’s indoor track), Nicole McMillen (2020 women’s indoor track) and Caley Sosnowski (2024 women’s outdoor field).
Hart won the 100 meters with a time of 11.30 seconds and was the anchor leg of the winning 4×100-meter relay that set a Welch Stadium record with a time of 44.05 seconds. Hart took third place in the 200 meters at 23.46 seconds in her sixth race of the three-day meet to collect her third All-America honor.
The Raleigh, North Carolina native was a nine-time All-American (six outdoor, three indoor) in only two seasons of competition for the Pioneers, earning seven first-team All-America awards. She was the 2026 South Atlantic Conference Outdoor Track Athlete of the Meet after winning three gold medals in the 100 meters, 200 meters and 4×100 relay, and is an 11-time USTFCCCA All-Region recipient (seven outdoor, four indoor).
Williams has won back-to-back SAC Women’s Outdoor Coach of the Year honors, after leading the Pioneers to a third-place finish in 2025 and fourth place this season. The Pioneers amassed 36 points at the NCAA Outdoor Championship despite having just four competitors in the field, who combined for six first-team All-America performances. Tusculum had nine medal-winning performances and won four gold medals at the SAC Outdoor Championship this spring.
Since joining the Pioneer program for the 2021 season, first as an assistant then as head coach since the fall of 2022, Williams has had 33 indoor and 40 outdoor All-Region performances along with 16 All-America honorees. He was the 2022 USTFCCCA Southeast Region Men’s Assistant Coach of the Year, and led the women’s team to a program-best second-place finish at the 2026 SAC Indoor Championship. He is also the two-time reigning winner of the Art Argauer Coach of the Year Award at Tusculum.
The USTFCCCA will continue its postseason awards later this week with the announcement of national winners.
