NEW ORLEANS - After their stellar performances at the NAIA Indoor Track and Field Championships, four USCB track and field athletes - Shamar Deacon, Iyana McKeever, Kadari Mitchell and Mel Obadiah Jr. - collected NAIA All-American status on Wednesday, March 10, 2011.

The foursome combined for five All-American honors, as McKeever was named an All-American twice - triple and long jumps. Deacon and Obadiah were All-Americans in the 600m, while Mitchell garnered the All-American status in the 60m.

McKeever competed in both the triple and long jumps at the NAIA Championships, and she finished fifth and eighth overall - respectively. She made a leap of 11.86m in the triple jump, and in the long jump, McKeever made a jump of 5.60m. Both of those marks were school records at USCB as well.

Obadiah and Deacon earned their All-American status in the 600m. Obadiah had the higher finish between the two Sand Sharks, as the Wichita State transfer finished fourth. Deacon finished sixth overall with a time of 1:21.42 in the finals. Obadiah's preliminary time of 1:20.31 also set a new school record at USCB.

To wrap up the NAIA All-Americans for USCB was Mitchell. The junior earned that status in the 60m, as he earned All-American honors (USCB's first-ever All-American) last year in the men's 200m. This year Mitchell finished eighth overall with a time of 6.96.

These four Sand Sharks as well as the entire USCB outdoor track and field teams will commence the 2021 season on Friday (May 13) and Saturday (May 14) at the GATA Classic.