March 12, 2008

EL PASO, Texas - The UTEP track team garnered three indoor track regional honors, with Head Coach Bob Kitchens named Women's Coach of the Year and newcomer Blessing Okagbare grabbing the Women's Field Athlete of the Year award, as announced by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coach's Association today. Additionally, Calvin Robinson was tabbed the Mountain Region Women's Assistant Coach of the Year.

Kitchens guided UTEP to a second-place finish behind Rice at the Conference USA Championships. The Miners had three gold medalists with five first-place and nine top-three finishes in scoring 114 points to Rice's 133 points. The women's team is currently ranked 17th in the nation. Kitchens has been the head coach at UTEP since 1988.

Okagbare is ranked in the top three in the long jump (21-10) and triple jump (44-9) entering the NCAA Indoor Championships. She won both events at the Conference USA meet, setting meet and school records in both events as the Miners finished second in team scoring.

In his fourth season at UTEP, Robinson furthered his reputation as an excellent jumps coach, as Okagbare will be joined at the NCAA Indoor Championships by teammate Nelly Tchayem in the triple jump.