National Athletes of the Year in D-I Are Batty, Drouin, Hasay, Theisen

Athletes impressed the nation’s coaches with great performances during season



March 15, 2011



NEW ORLEANS – The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) announces the National Athletes of the Year for the 2011 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field season. Mile champion and distance medley relay anchor Miles Batty of BYU is the nation’s top male track athlete of the year. High jumper Derek Drouin of Indiana is the coaches’ pick for best male field athlete of the season. Oregon’s distance doubler Jordan Hasay won the women’s track athlete nod while fellow Duck Brianne Theisen is the nation’s field athlete of the year.





National Men’s Track Athlete of the Year

Miles Batty, BYU



Batty, a junior and native of Sandy, Utah, spurred the Cougars’ run to the podium for a third-place team finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships with national titles in the mile and as anchor of the squad’s DMR team. Batty was one of two to finish the national mile final in sub-four fashion as he topped Tulsa’s Chris O’Hare for the national crown with a 3:59.49 clocking. Batty, the day previous, led the Cougars to their first national crown in the DMR since 1978, holding off fast closing Indiana and Minnesota, with a 3:56.14, 1600-meter anchor split. The relay’s time of 9:29.28 is the seventh-best in collegiate history.



Batty was the Mountain West Conference mile champion (4:15.23) and again was anchor of the BYU crew to a DMR conference title. Batty notched the fastest mile time of the collegiate season with a 3:55.79 run to win the Flotrack Husky Classic on Washington’s oversized track.



Recent Winners:

2011: Miles Batty, BYU

2010: Torrin Lawrence, Georgia

2009: Galen Rupp, Oregon

2008: Leo Manzano, Texas

2007: Chris Solinsky, Wisconsin

2006: Xavier Carter, LSU





National Men’s Field Athlete of the Year

Derek Drouin, Indiana



Drouin, a junior from Corunna, Ontario, won the NCAA high jump title with a clearance at 7-5 (2.26m), but he caught the masses’ attention with additional first-attempt clearances at 7-6½ (2.30m) and a second-attempt clearance of 7-7¾ (2.33m). Drouin’s meet-best equaled the Canadian national record and moves him to a tie for third indoors all-time in the collegiate ranks. Drouin is the first back-to-back indoor national champ since USC’s Jesse Williams in 2005 and 2006.



Drouin cleared at least 7-5 (2.26m) on four occasions during the season including when he won the Big Ten title and finished runner-up at the Tyson Invitational. Drouin also scored 5,407 points for a season best in the heptathlon.



Recent Winners:

2011: Derek Drouin, Indiana

2010: Ashton Eaton, Oregon

2009: Ashton Eaton, Oregon

2008: Ryan Whiting, Arizona State

2007: Donovan Kilmartin, Texas

Donald Thomas, Auburn

2006: Trey Hardee, Texas





National Women’s Track Athlete of the Year

Jordan Hasay, Oregon



Hasay, a sophomore from Arroyo Grande, Calif., would lead Oregon to a national team title with a meet-high 22 points, scoring individual national crowns in the mile and 3000 meters and as anchor of the Ducks’ runner-up DMR squad. Hasay became the fifth overall and first to win the national mile-3k double since Northern Arizona’s Johanna Nilsson in 2006. Hasay won the mile at the NCAA Championships in a personal-best 4:33.01, a mark that is among the all-time top ten of American collegians. In the 3000, Hasay outlasted Villanova’s Sheila Reid with a 9:13.71 run to avenge a previous head-to-head loss to Reid in the DMR the night before.



Hasay clocked a 9:05.42 season’s best in the 3000 at the UW Invitational in January. Hasay was also the mile champ at the MPSF Championships.



Recent Winners:

2011: Jordan Hasay, Oregon

2010: Francena McCorory, Hampton

2009: Jenny Barringer, Colorado

2008: Sally Kipyego, Texas Tech

2007: Kerron Stewart, Auburn

2006: Johanna Nilsson, Northern Arizona





National Women’s Field Athlete of the Year

Brianne Theisen, Oregon



Theisen, a senior from Humboldt, Saskatchewan, twice set the collegiate record in the pentathlon in 2011 and won her second-straight NCAA crown in the event. Her score of 4,540 bettered her previous all-time collegiate best mark of 4,507 set in January at the UW Invitational and ranked among the world’s top five in the event for the season. Theisen would earn personal best of 6-½ (1.84m) in the high jump and 2:11.82 in the 800 meters en route to this season’s national crown. Theisen also scored at the NCAA meet for the second-straight year as a member of Oregon’s 4x400 relay team.



At the MPSF Championships, Theisen sat out the pentathlon, but competed in four other events, including leading-off the Ducks 4x400 to victory, placing second in the high jump, and third in the 60-meter hurdles.



Recent Winners:

2011: Brianne Theisen, Oregon

2010: Blessing Okagbare, UTEP

2009: Destinee Hooker, Texas

2008: Jacquelyn Johnson, Arizona State

2007: Brittany Riley, Southern Illinois

2006: Chelsea Johnson, UCLA









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Tom Lewis

U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association

Communications Manager

1100 Poydras St., Suite 1750

New Orleans, LA 70163

(O) 504-599-8904 (F) 504-599-8909

Email: tom@ustfccca.org

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