PULLMAN, Wash. (Feb. 27, 2025) – Washington State Track and Field redshirt-senior Micaela De Mello was named the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Women's Athlete of the Year, while Head Coach Wayne Phipps was named the MPSF's Men's Coach of the Year, the conference announced Thursday.
 
De Mello, from Palhoca, Brazil, put on a dominant display of racing throughout the indoor season, culminating with a strong showing at the MPSF Championships last weekend. There, she captured the 60m Hurdles title in 8.00 seconds, while finishing second in the 60m race at 7.43 seconds. Both times set personal bests for De Mello as she accumulated 18 team points, enough to receive the women's high-point scorer award for the meet which helped the Cougars finish second in the team standings.
 
In the 60m Hurdles final, her time of 8.00 seconds was only 0.01 second off the WSU program record and set a Brazilian National Indoor record. The time is also third fastest in NCAA Division 1 this season. De Mello's personal best 60-meter time, 7.43 seconds, was fourth fastest in program history and third-fastest in the MPSF this season. During the indoor season, De Mello captured four victories in the 60-meter hurdles and two second-place finishes in the 60-meter sprint.
 
Phipps, in his 11th-year as head coach of the Washington State Track & Field program, led the Cougars to their third MPSF Men's Championship all-time, and first since 2001. In their first year returning to the MPSF for Indoor Track & Field, WSU finished 38 points ahead of second-place Long Beach State in the race for the team championship.
 
The Cougar men amassed seven individual titles, with sophomore Grant Buckmiller breaking an MPSF record with a 200-meter time of 20.72 seconds. WSU also took home the victories in the 4x400, 60m race (Mason Lawyer), 60m hurdles (Parker Duskin), 3000m race (Evans Kurui), pole vault (Gavin Dimick) and triple jump (Eli Lawrence). Kurui holds the ninth-best 5000m time in NCAA Division 1 this season and Lawyer holds the ninth-best 60m time. This is Phipps' third coach of the year award but first in the MPSF, winning WAC Indoor Coach of the Year honors in 2012 and 2014.
 
The Cougars await the NCAA Track & Field Indoor Championships, March 14-15 in Virginia Beach, Va.