BEALE NAMED USTFCCCA OUTDOOR NATIONAL FIELD ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
Hutchinson CC Sports Information
In a season of firsts for Hutchinson Community College women's track and field athlete Xylavene Beale, she added another program first on Wednesday.
Beale became the first Hutchinson women's track and field athlete to be named the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Athlete of the Year, earning the honor as the Field Athlete of the Year, the USTFCCCA announced Wednesday afternoon.
The Blue Dragon freshman thrower from Albury, Australia won two individual national championships at the 2026 NJCAA Division I Outdoor Championships last weekend in Hobbs, New Mexico.
One day after winning a shot put national championship, Beale dominated the field to win a national championship in the discus.
Beale's 21 points scored led the Blue Dragon women to their best finish in program history with an eighth-place team performance scoring 40 points. The 2026 Blue Dragons had their first Top 10 finish since 2019 and tied the 2010 Blue Dragons for the best team placing in history.
Beale becomes the first Blue Dragon women's athlete to win two national titles in the same outdoor championship meet and is the second to win two national events in the same national meet, joining Adriana Janic who won the 60-meter hurdles and Pentathlon in the 2018 NJCAA Indoor Championships.
Beale and Janic are now tied for the most individual career national championships in program history. In addition to her two titles in the 2026 outdoor championships, Beale won the 2026 NJCAA Indoor shot put national title.
Beale won the 2026 outdoor shot put championship on Friday with a school-record mark of 52 feet, 8 3/4 inches. She beat her own Blue Dragon shot put record of 51-7 1/4 set at the Tabor College Invitational on April 11.
Then on Saturday, Beale unleased her winning throw of 180 feet, 3 inches to take a lead of 17 feet, 10 inches on the third preliminary throw. Nobody in the finals challenged the Blue Dragon thrower.
Beale's winning throw was also a Blue Dragon school record, the fifth time this season she has broken the Hutchinson discus record. She topped her previous record of 178-8 at the Alex Francis Classic on April 11.
Overall this season, Beale broke 10 outdoor records and broke seven indoor records in the 2026 season.
Beale earned five NJCAA All-America awards in 2026, four first-team and one second-team award this season.
At the Region 6 Championships on May 2, Beale was the meet's top scorer with a championship-high 28 points in inning the shot put and discus and winning the weight throw.