Fayetteville State University Athletics

Fayetteville State University hired Jamaican Olympian Inez Turner in 2017, and the university's athletic program quickly became a powerhouse in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA).

The Broncos have dominated women's cross country, winning six consecutive conference titles since 2017. However, athletics were not active in 2020 due to COVID. The men's cross country team also secured back-to-back CIAA titles over the past two seasons. Additionally, the women's cross country program earned three runner of the year awards.

The Broncos' indoor track & field program became a conference contender with a third-place finish in the 2019 championship meet. The following year, Fayetteville State captured its first-ever women's title and an Indoor Track Coach of the Year honor. The university also won its second consecutive conference championship at the 2022 CIAA Indoor Track & Field Championships. The Broncos scored 155 points to outdistance themselves from the other eight competing teams. In 2024, the Broncos claimed the title with 138 points in its fifth season as a university-sponsored program. M'Smyra Seward, the Women's Field Athlete of the Year, won the long jump and the triple jump events, earning the Championship's Field MVP Award.

In 2019, the first year of women's outdoor track & field at Fayetteville State, the Broncos secured a second-place finish. They captured their first conference title as co-champions in 2022. In 2023, led by Jessica McQueen, the CIAA Women's Championship Track MVP, and M'Smyra Seward, the Field MVP, Fayetteville State amassed 171.13 points for back-to-back CIAA Outdoor titles. The university captured its third consecutive Outdoor Track and Field Championship. M'Smyra Seward, a four-time NCAA DII All-American, has been honored as the CIAA Indoor Field Athlete of the Year twice and once for the outdoor seasons. She has also received the Field MVP award twice for Indoor Championships and Outdoor Championships. Seward has a conference count of 13 top-three medal finishes, nine of which are gold.
 

POST-SEASON ACCOLADES CIAA CHAMPIONSHIPS    CIAA COACH OF THE YEAR 2010    Men's Cross Country (WSSU) 2010 Men's Cross Country COY 2010 Women's Cross Country (WSSU) 2010 Women's Cross Country COY 2011 Women's Cross Country (WSSU) 2011 Women's Cross Country COY 2011 Women's Indoor Track & Field (WSSU) 2011 Women's Indoor COY 2015 Women's Cross Country (WSSU) 2015 Women's Cross Country COY 2015 Women's Indoor Track & Field (WSSU) 2015 Women's Indoor COY 2016 Women's Cross Country (WSSU) 2016 Women's Cross Country COY 2016 Women's Indoor Track & Field (WSSU) 2016 Women's Indoor COY 2017 Women's Outdoor Track & Field (WSSU) 2017 Women's Outdoor COY 2017 Women's Cross Country 2017 Women's Cross Country COY 2018 Women's Cross Country 2018 Women's Cross Country COY 2019 Women's Cross Country 2019 Women's Cross Country COY 2020 Women's Indoor Track & Field 2020 Women's Indoor COY 2021 Women's Cross Country 2021 Women's Cross Country COY 2022 Women's Indoor Track & Field 2022 Women's Indoor COY 2022 Co-Women's Outdoor Track & Field 2022 Women's Outdoor Co-COY 2022 Women's Cross Country 2022 Women's Cross Country COY 2022 Men's Cross Country 2022 Men's Cross Country COY 2023 Women's Indoor Track & Field 2023 Women's Indoor COY 2023 Women's Outdoor Track & Field 2023 Women's Outdoor COY 2023 Men's Cross Country 2023 Men's Cross Country COY 2023 Women's Cross Country 2023 Women's Cross Country COY 2024 Women's Indoor Track & Field 2024 Women's Indoor COY 2024 Women's Outdoor Track & Field 2024 Women's Outdoor COY

When Inez Turner was the head coach at Winston-Salem State University for eight years, she became an eight-time CIAA Coach of the Year recipient. The Rams won the Men's and Women's Cross Country Championships in her first year and she coached her programs to nine conference titles: four women's cross country, three women's indoor track and field, one women's outdoor track and field, and one men's cross country.

Heac Coach Inez Turner has led her programs to 23 CIAA Championship titles and each title is accompanied by a CIAA Coach of the Year accolade.

Turner has been coaching track and field since 2004 with previous stops at New York Track Club, North Carolina A&T State University.

She began her prestigious running career at Barton Community College. While competing for the Cougars, Turner racked up 16 National Junior College All-America honors. Turner holds several school records at Barton to this day, including the outdoor 400m dash, the indoor 800m run, the indoor 880y run, the indoor 1,000m run, and she was a member of the two fastest indoor and outdoor 4x800m relay teams. She also holds the second fastest outdoor 800m run time at Barton.

Turner won the 1993 Division I NJCAA Championship in the 800m run with a time of 2:04.88, a time that remains the fastest time ever run in the event at the championship level. She also was a key member of the 4x800m relay team that secured an NJCAA national championship with a record time of 8:39.27.

After matriculated to Texas State University, where she was inducted into its 2019 Hall of Fame after two stellar seasons for the Bobcat cross country and track & field teams from 1993-1995. There she won two NCAA back-to-back championships in the 800m with a time of 2:01.50 in 1994 and a school record of 2:00.27 in 1995. She secured 13 title races at the historic Penn Relays, set two World Junior records at the Penn Relays, was named Penn Relays Athlete of the Meet three times and was a five-time Penn Relays Wall of Famer. She also collected two Southland Conference Athlete of the Year accolades and was a team captain.

Turner was named the 1994 Southland Conference Outstanding Track Performer and Athlete of the Year before being tabbed the co-athlete of the year in the 1995 season. During the indoor portion of the season, Turner claimed the 1995 open 400m Southland Conference championship and was a member of the 4x400m relay squad. Turner would go on to capture Gold at the Southland Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships in 1994 in the open 400m dash, the 800m run, and the 4x400m relay. She would repeat as conference champion in the 800m run and the 4x400m relay in ’95.

Turner competed in the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta for Jamaica. She was a member of the fourth place 4x400m relay team and competed in the 800m run as an individual. She edged out a Gold medal in the 1994 Commonwealth Games in the 800m run with a time of 2:01.74. She also won a Bronze medal at the 1997 World Championships in Athens, Greece as a member of the 4x400m relay team. She competed in the CARIFTA (Caribbean Free Trade Association) Games from 1988-91 and won seven Gold medals and two Silver medals in the 400m dash, 800m run, and 4x400m relay between the Junior and Youth divisions.  She was also the first athlete from an English-speaking Caribbean country to run a sub 2 minutes in the 800m. 

Turner has been enshrined in both the Penn Relays and National Junior College Hall of Fames and was named ISA Athlete of the Decade for the 1980’s.

In 2012, Turner established the Inez Turner Foundation to raise funds for Vere Technical High School to assist disadvantaged students. She has been the keynote speaker at the US-JA International College Fair, an organization that aids in help with third world countries, three times.

She is a 1998 graduate of Texas State University where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Exercise and Sports Science.