National high jumper Lamara Distin added another honour to her collection on April 22, 2024, when she was selected for the Texas A&M Female Athlete of the Year at the university’s annual Legacy Awards.
From March 2023 to March 2024, Texas A&M student-athletes who have excelled in academics, extracurricular activities, leadership, and athletics are recognised with the Legacy Awards. At the 2023 Outdoor and 2024 Indoor Championships, the two-time Jamaican national champion and Commonwealth Games gold medalist added two more Southeastern Conference (SEC) titles to her career, for a total of five SEC titles. She also dominated the NCAA and SEC high jump scenes.
The former standout athlete from Rusea’s High School, Vere Technical High School, and Hydel High School earned her fifth and sixth First-Team All-America selections after finishing second in both the 2023 outdoor and 2024 indoor national championships in impeccable form.
The 24-year-old eclipsed the all-time collegiate record of 1.99 metres set by Arizona standout Brigetta Barrett in 2013 by reaching 2.00 metres at the 2024 SEC Indoor Championships, breaking the NCAA Indoor high jump record and making history as the first collegiate woman to clear the mark both indoors and outdoors.
Distin broke the 1.97-metre national record she had held the previous year and also surpassed the 1.98-metre indoor all-time collegiate record held by Texas athlete Destinee Hooker and Kansas State’s Akela Jones. On February 24, the last day of the SEC Indoor Championships at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Arkansas, Distin ultimately won a third consecutive SEC title. She became the second female athlete in conference history to win three straight indoor high jump titles, behind Florida’s Maria Galloni (1990–1992).
