Wayland Baptist track & field standout
Raheema Westfall has been named Sooner Athletic Conference Female Co-Athlete of the Year.
Westfall shared the award with Science & Arts softball pitcher Emily Cerny, who also won the award last year. Voted upon by the league's athletic directors, Cerny and Westfall became the first co-SAC female athletes of the year after each received 19 points. Westfall earned six first-place votes while Cerny appeared on all 11 of the possible ballots.
A senior from St. Louis, Westfall was a 12-time NAIA All-American, five-time national runner-up and four-time national champion during her career at Wayland. In 2022 alone, she won three national crowns and one runner-up title, capping her career at outdoor nationals last May by winning both the 100 and 200 meters to claim the undisputed title of fastest female in the NAIA and earning the meet's Most Outstanding Performer distinction. Westfall broke a 28-year-old national meet record and broke her own school record in the 200 with a time of 22.98 seconds and just missed a national meet record and school mark in the 100 with a time of 11.18.
Westfall was named SAC Runner of the Week seven times in her career, including five her senior season. She was named winner of the Roscoe Snyder Award, recognizing her as WBU's top senior female athlete in 2021-22.
Said former track & field coach Brian Whitlock: "Raheema is without a doubt one of the best sprinters in school history. She does everything you ask. It's fun to see somebody who works as hard as she does have that hard work pay off."
A senior pitcher from Newcastle, Okla., Cerny cemented herself in the NAIA record books, placing herself at the top of the career marks in strikeouts (1414), wins (144), appearances (186) and innings pitched (1047) while ranking second in career shutouts (64), complete games (132) and no-hitters (15). In five seasons with the Drovers, Cerny closed out her career with a 144-22 record to go with a 1.08 earned run average.
Over the course of her Drovers career, Cerny led USAO to the NAIA national championship tournament four times, including a championship in 2018 as well as third-place finishes at the NAIA Softball World Series in 2019 and 2022. At the conclusion of the 2022 season, Cerny earned her fourth NAIA All-American selection and was named the SAC pitcher of the year for the fifth time as well as earned her third NAIA pitcher of the year accolade.
During the 2022 campaign, Cerny once again put up unbelievable numbers that led the nation in multiple statistical categories, included strikeouts (388), complete games (31), shutouts (19) and innings pitched (255.1). In her 44 appearances, Cerny amassed a 34-5 record with a 0.90 ERA.
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