NEW ORLEANS – Eleven individuals from eight different Sun Belt Conference institutions will travel to Paris next week for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games. The games are scheduled to begin on July 26 and will run through August 11.
Ten of the individuals are scheduled to represent their various countries in different events, while Delethea Quarles (Director of James Madison Track & Field) was appointed as the women’s jumps/multis coach for Team USA.
Quarles will be joined in Paris by fellow Dukes Jackie Benitez (2020) and Ongeziwe Mali (2020). Benitez will compete on the Puerto Rican women’s basketball team as Mali will represent South Africa in women’s field hockey.
James Madison leads all Sun Belt institutions with three individuals, as Old Dominion has two. Arkansas State, Coastal Carolina, Old Dominion, South Alabama, Texas State, Troy and ULM each have one.
Competition at the 2024 Summer Olympics will be aired live on NBCOlympics.com, NBC, NBC Sports and Peacock. The full list of honorees can be found below.
Camryn Newton-Smith, Heptathlon – Australia (‘23 Arkansas State)
Arkansas State track and field school record holder, three-time All-American and Sun Belt Champion Camryn Newton-Smith is set to represent Australia in the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Newton-Smith, who owns the program records in both the pentathlon and heptathlon, will compete for her home nation in the heptathlon. She is set to compete against 23 of the world's top competitors on Aug. 8-9 at Stade de France in Paris.
The Greenbank, Queensland, native has consistently been among the world's best, capped by capturing Australia and Oceania titles in the heptathlon in April and June, respectively. She boasts a lifetime-best score of 6,180 set at the Australian Championships in April – good for 19th in the official Road to Paris standings.
She becomes the program's 11th all-time Olympic athlete and first since Jeff Hartwig competed in the pole vault at the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing. Her selection also extends a run of athletes and/or coaches with an A-State association to compete in 13 of the last 14 Summer Olympics, the lone exception being the boycotted 1980 Moscow Games.
Melissa Jefferson, Women’s 100-Meter Dash – USA (‘22 Coastal Carolina)
Coastal Carolina track & field's Melissa Jefferson earned a place on Team USA in the 100 meters by finishing second in the qualifying finals with a time of 10.80.
The Georgetown, S.C., native posted her two fastest times of the last two years, winning her semifinal heat by .12 seconds with a time of 10.87, before setting a new personal best in the final. The 2022 USA Outdoor Track and Field champion in the 100 meters, Jefferson is making her first Olympic appearance.
In her time at the Sun Belt, Jefferson became Coastal Carolina’s first-ever indoor national champion. Jefferson claimed the 60-meter dash title, and her time of 7.09 was tied for the sixth-fastest all-time in the NCAA Division I Women’s Indoor Track & Field record books.
The women's 100-meter competition will take place on Aug. 2-3 in Stade de France.
Jackie Benitez, Women’s Basketball – Puerto Rico (‘20 James Madison)
Jackie Benitez and her squad secured a spot in the Summer Games on Feb. 10 after defeating New Zealand 69-67 in the FIBA Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Xian, China. Benitez scored 13 points in the victory, knocking down a trio of three-pointers in 24 minutes of action.
This win earned Puerto Rico its second Olympic appearance in team history. Previously, the team qualified for Tokyo 2020 where they finished in 12th place. Benitez and former JMU teammate Jazmon Gwathmey (’16) were both members of that year’s Puerto Rico squad and are the program’s lone Olympians.
Benitez appeared in 61 games, starting in 35 during her time at JMU. She averaged 12.7 points and 2.6 rebounds in 27.4 minutes per game as a Duke after transferring from Siena. In the 2018-19 season, the Jersey City, N.J. native knocked down 95 threes – good for sixth in program history in single-season makes from deep.
Puerto Rico will compete with Serbia, Spain and China in Group A. The Group Phase begins on July 28 in Lille, France at Pierre-Mauroy Stadium, capped off by Serbia versus Puerto Rico at 3 p.m. All basketball at the 2024 Paris Olympics will air on NBC, USA Network, CNBC, and E!, and stream on Peacock and NBC Olympics platforms starting Saturday, July 27.
Ongeziwe Mali, Women’s Field Hockey – South Africa (‘20 James Madison)
During her time in Harrisonburg, Ongeziwe Mali tallied 10 goals and three assists for 23 points in 36 games, making 29 starts. In 2019, she was named to the Preseason All-CAA Team, earning All-CAA Second Team honors at the end of the season. Mali brought international experience to JMU, having competed in the Commonwealth Games and Women's Hockey World Cup in 2018.
Mali enters the Olympic Games with 30 Caps and earned the Player of the Tournament award at the African Hockey Road to Tokyo 2020.
The SA Women will be participating for the sixth time at the Olympic Games since making their debut in 2000. The team will compete in Pool B and will open their campaign against Australia on July 28. The following day they are back in action against Argentina. After a one-day break, South Africa will play Great Britain (July 31) and Spain (Aug. 1) before rounding off the group stages with a game against the United States (Aug. 3).
Delethea Quarles, Women’s Jumps/Multis Coach – USA (James Madison)
Delethea Quarles is in her second year at the helm of the Dukes' track & field program after spending 25 years at South Carolina. In her time in Harrisonburg thus far, JMU has seen her team set 49 top-10 program marks and five school records across the indoor and outdoor seasons. While in Columbia, S.C., "Coach Dee" helped guide the Gamecocks to a NCAA national championship in 2002 and coached a pair of NCAA individual champions.
Four women earned national athlete of the year honors with Quarles on staff at USC. Altogether, the program tallied 43 individual and relay titles since 1998, including a pair of outdoor high jump champions in 2015 and 2021. Of the 621 total All-Americans at South Carolina during her career, 50 came from her direct oversight of the jumps and multi-events. Her student-athletes accounted for nine of the squad's 82 total points en route to the 2002 national title, the first for the Gamecocks in any sport.
While Quarles's primary focus is on her athletes, her tremendous impact throughout the industry has led to numerous individual awards and honors. She's served on the Team USA staff at the IAAF World Championships in Doha Qatar, Beijing, China, Moscow, Russia and Daegu, South Korea – including serving as the women's team head coach at the 2015 event in Beijing. Additionally, Quarles coached at the World University Games in Naples, Italy, in 2019. Collegiately, she was named USTFCCCA Southeast Regional Assistant Coach of the Year in 2018.
Marie Reichert, 3x3 Women’s Basketball – Germany (’21 Old Dominion)
Marie Reichert played at Old Dominion for a pair of seasons before competing internationally in Europe. The former Monarch was selected to compete for the German 3x3 Women's Basketball team.
Stephanie Roble, Women’s Sailing – USA (’11 Old Dominion)
Stephanie Roble was a three-time ICSA All-American and helped both the women's and co-ed sailing teams to third place finishes at the 2010 National Championships. She was also a three-time ICSA Collegiate All-American Skipper (2009, 10 & 11) and a two-time First Team ICSA Collegiate All-American Skipper (2010 & 11).
In her time as a Monarch, Roble was instrumental in leading ODU to a third-place finish at both ICSA Women's National Championships & Coed Nationals (2010) Led ODU to 6th at Women's National Championships as a senior (2011). She also placed second at the ICSA MAISA Women's District Championships (2010). The was named the ODU Team MVP on three separate occasions.
Roble Qualified for the 2020 Olympics in the 49erFX category for Team USA by placing second at the 2019 49erFX Pan American games in Peru for Team USA. She has earned two bronze medals at Women's Match Race World Championships (2014&15) and finished third in the 2020 49erFX World Championships for Team USA.
Francois Prinsloo, Men’s Discus – South Africa (‘24 South Alabama)
Francois Prinsloo compiled a lengthy list of accolades, including qualifying for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, clinching his third NCAA East Regional Title, earning the No.6 ranking on the all-time NCAA Discus Throw List, and claiming a sixth Sun Belt Conference championship.
He looked to cap off an incredible career for the Jaguars at the NCAA Track and Field Finals in Eugene, Oreg., hoping to become the second National Champion for South Alabama in the last two seasons and accomplish something that's eluded him for the last three years.
The South African native put on a masterclass performance, leading from start to finish at the NCAA Finals by recording the top three throws in the competition in his first three attempts.
He began the evening by launching a monstrous toss of 61.92 meters (203'3") before improving to 62.19 meters (204'0"). Prinsloo accomplished a distance of 63.51 meters (208'4") to secure the NCAA title, beating his closest competitor from USC by nearly two meters or six feet.
This marks the fourth National Champion for the Jaguars in the program history and the sixth championship title overall.
Anicka Newell, Women’s Pole Vault – Canada (‘15 Texas State)
In 2014, Anicka Newell’s junior season at Texas State, she broke the 13-foot mark for the first time in her career and won her first Sun Belt Conference Outdoor title in the pole vault.
Her senior season was full of vaults over 13 feet as she moved closer to the 14-foot mark.
It was not until it was time for her to defend her outdoor pole vault title at the SBC Championships that Newell broke the 14-foot mark and set a new Texas State record of 4.28m/14-0.5, while also claiming her second consecutive SBC title in the event.
Not only did the 14-foot vault set the record for Texas State, but it got her closer to the qualifying standard for the Olympic Games of 14 feet, 9 inches. It wasn’t until her 10th meet of 2016 that she finally hit the 14 feet, 9 inches mark and qualified to represent Canada in Rio for the Olympics.
Despite the regulations and the lack of spectators at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Newell made her first Olympic finals appearance after placing first in the qualifying round with a vault of 4.55m. She became the first Female Texas State athlete to make the finals in the Olympics since Brigitte Foster-Hylton did so in the 100m at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
She learned earlier this month that she had would be competing for Team Canada for the third time at the 2024 Paris Olympics, after placing second in the pole vault at the Bell Track and Field Trails. Newell will also be the second female Texas State track and field member to appear in three Olympics. The only other Bobcat to accomplish the feat is Foster-Hylton, who competed in sprints at four Olympic games with Team Jamaica.
Vincent Hancock, Men's Skeet Shooting – USA (Troy)
Vincent Hancock will represent Troy and the USA in both the men's skeet shooting competition and the mixed team skeet shooting. Hancock is a three-time Olympic champion, four-time World Champion, 16-time World Cup medalist (including 12 wins) and five-time World Cup Finals medalist.
Hancock started competing when he was 11 years old. In 2005, at age 16, Hancock won his first World Championship title in Men’s Skeet and went on to win the prestigious International Shooting Sport Federation’s Shooter of the Year award.
His gold-medal victories in Bejing 2008 and London 2012 puts him in elite company having become the first Olympic Skeet shooter to win gold medals in the same event in consecutive Olympic Games.
Earning his fourth World Championship title in 2018, Hancock is the first person ever to win four World titles in Men’s Skeet, eclipsing Abdullah Alrashidi of Kuwait and Jury Tsuranov of the Soviet Union. Hancock is also now one of three men in the Shotgun discipline to earn four world titles in his career, joining Michel Carrega of France and Giovanni Pellielo of Italy.
Majok Deng, Men’s Basketball – South Sudan (‘16 ULM)
Former ULM men's basketball standout Majok Deng will represent South Sudan at the Olympic Games in Paris, July 26-Aug. 11, 2024, after the South Sudanese national team qualified for this summer's Olympics.
Deng is the first ULM player since Glynn Saulters to participate in the Olympic Games. Saulters, the only former ULM men's player in program history to have his jersey retired, competed at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City and won a gold medal with the United States national basketball team.
Deng helped South Sudan earn a bid to the Olympics for the first time in history after his team defeated Angola 101-78 at the FIBA Basketball World Cup. Deng registered 10 points and four rebounds to go along with a trio of blocks and two steals as his team clinched a spot in the 2024 Olympics. He has been on the South Sudanese national team since 2022 when Deng played in the FIBA World Cup Qualifiers.
Deng has played professional basketball for the Tasmania JackJumpers of the National Basketball League since 2023 and has over eight seasons of playing professional basketball. Deng spent the first three years with the Adelaide 36ers of the NBL before playing the next four seasons with the Cairns Taipans. He was voted All-BAL Second Team in 2024 and All-NBL1 North First Team in 2023. Deng and the JackJumpers won the 2024 NBL Championship.
While at ULM, Deng averaged 14.2 points per game in 69 games over two seasons. During the 2014-15 season, he logged eight double-doubles and received All-Sun Belt Conference Third Team, All-Louisiana First Team and College Sports Madness All-SBC Second Team accolades. He was an impactful player on the Warhawks' 2015 CBI Tournament run and helped ULM reach the CBI Championship Series. In his final season at ULM, Deng led the SBC with a league-scoring average of 19.0 points per game in conference play. He was named All-Sun Belt Conference First Team and was voted on the SBC All-Tournament Team and NABC All-District 24 Team.
Deng and South Sudan will make their Olympic debut on Sunday, July 28 versus Puerto Rico to open Group C play. The South Sudanese are scheduled to face the United States on Wednesday, July 31 and will round out group play on Aug. 3 versus Serbia.