Southeast Missouri State men's indoor track and field team's junior jumper Chris Martin was filled with surprise, excitement and overall appreciation after he was told he won "Co-Male Athlete of the Week" of the Ohio Valley Conference this past week. With the indoor track season being a little less than a month in progress, this accomplishment adds to Martin's list of accolades, which includes conference Freshman of the Year for both indoor and outdoor seasons, six first-place finishes as a sophomore and two triple jump first-place finishes at last season's Joey Haines Invitational and the Gibson Invitational.

Being a recipient of this award is not a first time occurrence for Martin; he received it last indoor season for the first week of February in addition to earning two first-place finishes in the 60 meters and the long jump during the Ohio Valley Conference meet. With winning being a common trend for Martin, his humble mindframe and decisions not to check his statistics or tune into any form of media are his ways of remaining focused throughout the entire season.

"It's actually pretty nice when people come up to you and let you know you did really good and we want to give you this," Martin said. "Because you feel like you earned it and you work hard all year, you do a lot of things to accomplish things and once success starts to unveil for you it feels really nice, and it feels like your work is showing and it's all panning out for me."

While Martin gives his best efforts regardless of the location of the meets, he stated he prefers the outdoor track for many reasons, including better competition with several colleges that do not compete indoors. Also, the overall freedom of being outside makes the experience more authentic for Martin, and the possibility of more fan support brings additional energy to the sport as a whole.

Track has been a part of Martin's life since he was in the seventh grade, when he participated in his first meet. He proudly admitted to not winning a single event. But his life outside of track consisted of friendly but competitive games of basketball and football with nine older siblings, which resulted in him working on his craft and eventually becoming better than them, even while being the youngest.

"Football and basketball was huge with my family, we had a basketball goal out in front and every day if we weren't playing football we were playing basketball, and if weren't playing basketball we were playing football," Martin said. "Or we were doing both and we always raced each other because we were always very competitive, my whole family was very competitive, and I always wanted to be better than my older brother and sisters. So growing up as a kid every game we played I just competed with them, then eventually I became as good as them and a little while later I became better than all of them."

This season, Martin took first place in the triple jump at the Missouri Invitational with 15.52 meters, while the team finished second overall. He also achieved a fifth place finish in his long jump season debut, where he jumped 7.03 meters at the Indiana University Gladstein Invitational.

Martin's consistency and continued progress since his arrival at Southeast has led him to remain focused, continue routines that have helped him achieve recent and past accomplishments and to make sure having fun remains a part of his mentality.

Martin gave some credit for his success to Matt Koelling, the assistant coach and jumps coach for Southeast's track team, who has provided an immeasurable amount of time and overall support, alongside the team's other coaches.

Koelling has worked with Martin for three years and attributed Martin's accomplishments to the overall effort and desire he puts into his craft as a student-athlete.

"He's a hard worker and everything I put out there for him he's all in and he's bought in 100 percent. He puts all his trust in me and I reciprocate that to him," Koelling said. "He's a good teammate as well always encouraging other people, and I think that helps the team praise him back."

Martin's current ranking of 16th in the nation and No. 1 in the OVC was not a surprise to Koelling due to Martin's performances last year and desire for indoor and outdoor excellence.

"An OVC championship is always a goal, but a goal [for Martin] this year was to become a first-team All-American," Koelling added.

The track team's next meet will be on the road as Southeast travels to Indiana to take part in the Notre Dame Meyo Invitational, a two-day-long weekend event at Notre Dame University.