Chambana Sun

The United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) has announced its regional outdoor season honors for 2025. Petros Kyprianou, director of track, field, and cross country at Illinois, was named the Midwest Region's Women's Coach of the Year. This recognition comes in his third season leading the program.

"I am honored to receive this award, but I could not do it alone," said Kyprianou. "I want to thank everyone on my staff as they are some of the best in the country and make my job easier. My athletes are also world class in responding to our coaching, but more importantly they are amazing people outside of athletics. We are just scratching the surface here at Illinois and we will continue improve and compete at the national level. Why not Illinois?"

This accolade follows a historic performance by Illinois' women's team at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, where they achieved their first top-5 finish in 29 years by placing fifth with 29.5 points. It marks only their second top-10 finish this century after a tenth-place finish in 2002.

Under Kyprianou's leadership, ten women qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships across six events, with six earning All-American honors: Sophia Beckmon (long jump), Tacoria Humphrey (long jump), Mia Morello (pole vault), Abria Smith (shot put), Melissa Wullschleger (heptathlon), and Rose Yeboah (high jump). This is the highest number of All-Americans since 1996 when ten athletes achieved this status.

Kyprianou also coached Humphrey and Smith to Big Ten Champion titles while achieving five school records and securing 41 top-10 program marks during the outdoor season. He is notably the first coach from Illinois to be named USTFCCCA Midwest Region Women's Coach of the Year.

These honors were determined by votes from member coaches following performances throughout the season at USTFCCCA member schools after last weekend's NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships held in Eugene, Oregon.