RICHMOND, Va.- The Atlantic 10 Conference announced their weekly awards for Indoor Track & Field on Tuesday. Two VCU athletes brought home hardware as senior thrower Troy McWilliams won Men's Field Athlete of the Week and freshman jumper Destiny Ese won Men's Rookie of the Week. 

McWilliams won the weekly award after a dominating performance in his Rams debut at the VCU Rams Indoor Invite on Friday. In the weight throw, he set a personal record with a 17.83m throw which is good for second best in the A-10 this season. The throw gave him an easy victory in the event as he defeated teammate Devon Brooks by 0.32m and was 0.95m further than the third place competitor. The throw also places McWilliams on the top-10 leaderboard for individual weight throw in VCU program history. 

A Newport News native, McWilliams joined the Rams for the 2025-26 season following three seasons at Norfolk State. He had an illustrious career with the Spartans as he won the 2025 MEAC Championship for both weight throw and hammer throw. He also set the program record in both events and competed in the HBCU National Championships and D1 Pre-Nationals. 

Ese, a freshman from Nigeria, took home Rookie of the Week honors after a strong performance in the long jump. He finished in 3rd place in the event with a 7.05m jump, good for sixth best in the A-10 this season. 

Prior to joining the Rams, Ese was a standout athlete in Nigeria with a career-best long jump at 7.31m in 2021. He also won the Pancyprian University Championships in Cyprus with a long jump of 6.98m in 2024.

Both McWilliams and Ese continue their seasons on Friday, Jan. 16 as the Rams travel west to compete at the Virginia Tech Invitational. Both athletes will compete in their events beginning at 7:00 pm on Friday night.