SHS grad Leggett named All-American

Published 3:53 pm Tuesday, May 26, 2020

MOUNT BERRY, Ga. — While she didn’t get a chance to compete at the NCAA indoor national championships, Suwannee High graduate Genesis Leggett still earned national recognition.

After the indoor track and field championships were wiped out due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, the Berry College senior was named an All-American last week by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

Normally, All-American honors are awarded to athletes that scored any portion of a team point (top 8 finish in the final of an individual event or a member of a top-8 placing relay team) at the NCAA championships.

However, with the championships canceled, any athlete that qualified for the national championships in an individual event and relay team members who produced the qualifying performance were deemed All-Americans. A total of 675 athletes were named All-Americans by the group May 19.

Leggett, who ranked 20th in the weight throw this year with a mark of 17 meters, also qualified for nationals in 2018, becoming the first Berry track & field athlete to compete at ether the indoor or outdoor NCAA championships.

She is a four-time all-region selection and twice was named the Southern Athletic Association Women’s Field Athlete of the Year.

A Gate of Opportunity scholar at Berry, Leggett double majored in communication and sports administration and is now set to begin pursing an MBA this fall in graduate school.