NEW ORLEANS, La. -- First-year standout Juslene Chea of the College of Saint Benedict track and field team was named on Wednesday to the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTCCCA) All-Region team. The recognition capped a remarkable debut season for the young hurdler, who quickly emerged as one of the top performers in the region in the 60-meter hurdles.

Chea, a native of St. Michael, Minnesota, didn't just compete this winter — she rewrote the program record book. Over the course of the indoor season, she set and broke the school record in the 60-meter hurdles twice.

Her breakthrough performance came at the Tostrud Classic on Feb. 20 in Northfield, Minnesota. In the preliminary round, Chea surged to a school-record time of 9.07 seconds. She wasn't finished yet. In the finals later that day, she shaved off another hundredth of a second, clocking 9.06 to finish second overall. Both performances surpassed the program-best mark of 9.11 she had posted earlier in the season.

Chea carried that momentum into the MIAC Championships on Feb. 27-28, where she delivered another standout performance. Competing in the 55-meter hurdles, she first set a new school record of 8.34 seconds in the preliminaries. The mark, which earned Chea All-MIAC honors, shattered the previous record of 8.54 set by Molly Miller in 2002. In the final, Chea raced to a time of 8.45 seconds to secure a runner-up finish, further cementing what has become a breakout freshman campaign. At the MIAC Championship, she was also honorable mention All-MIAC in the triple jump by placing sixth at 10.75m - 35-03.25.