The Bowerman Preseason Watch List for Men Announced

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Three semifinalists from 2011 make the list



January 11, 2012



NEW ORLEANS – The Bowerman, an award bestowed to collegiate track & field’s best athlete of the year, was awarded to Florida State’s Ngoni Makusha and Texas A&M’s Jessica Beard less than a month ago, but it’s time to look forward to 2012 with the award’s preseason watch list. The men’s list of ten, announced by The Bowerman Watch List Committee, has three semifinalists from the 2011 season.



The three finalists from 2011 – Makusha, Washington State’s Jeshua Anderson, and Florida’s Christian Taylor – are no longer collegians.



Virginia’s Robby Andrews, Iona’s Leonard Korir, and Florida State’s Maurice Mitchell rejoins the watch list after being named semifinalists in 2011. Florida’s Jeff Demps was a semifinalist for the award in 2010. BYU’s Miles Batty and Texas’ Marquise Goodwin had time on the watch list in 2011. Duke’s Curtis Beach, Arizona’s Lawi Lalang, Florida’s Tony McQuay, and Illinois’ Andrew Riley are first time members of the watch list.



THE BOWERMAN OFFICIAL WATCH LIST, PRESEASON 2012 MEN

(updated January 11, 2012, listed in alphabetical order)



NAME
YEAR
SCHOOL
EVENTS
HOMETOWN

Robby Andrews
JR
Virginia
Distance
Englishtown, N.J.

Miles Batty
SR
BYU
Distance
Sandy, Utah

Curtis Beach
JR
Duke
Combined Events
Albuquerque, N.M.

Jeff Demps
JR/SR
Florida
Sprints
Winter Garden, Fla.

Marquise Goodwin
JR
Texas
Jumps/Sprints
Garland, Texas

Leonard Korir
JR
Iona
Distance
Iten, Kenya

Lawi Lalang
SO
Arizona
Distance
Eldoret, Kenya

Tony McQuay
JR
Florida
Sprints
Riviera Beach, Fla.

Maurice Mitchell
JR
Florida State
Sprints
Kansas City, Mo.

Andrew Riley
SR
Illinois
Sprints/Hurdles
Kingston, Jamaica




QUICKLY – The Watch List



Robby Andrews, Virginia – In 2011, won first NCAA outdoor 800-meter title with a memorable, come-from-behind 200-meter sprint to the finish. Sitting in last place at the 600-meter mark, Andrews used a 26.44-second final close to pass the entire field to grab the tape from UC Irvine’s Charles Jock by only four hundredths of a second. Final time at the NCAA meet of 1:44.71 equaled the best collegiate mark of the year (Cory Primm, UCLA).



Miles Batty, BYU – In 2011, Batty spurred BYU’s 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. Outdoors, Batty was seventh at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the mile.



Curtis Beach, Duke – An up-and-comer in the combined events, Beach placed runner-up at the 2011 NCAA Outdoor Championships in the decathlon with 8,084 points. Beach was only the second person in the world born in the 1990s to score over 8,000 points last year (Thomas van der Plaetsen, Belgium).



Jeff Demps, Florida – In 2011, Demps claimed his second-straight NCAA indoor 60-meter title with a personal-best run in the finals of 6.53 seconds. Demps became the first back-to-back NCAA indoor short-sprint champ since DaBryan Blanton of Oklahoma in 2004 and 2005. Outdoors, Demps qualified for the final site of the NCAA Championship in the 100 meters and 4x100 relay. He was a member of the SEC champion 4x100 team outdoors as well.



Marquise Goodwin, Texas – The junior won the NCAA outdoor long jump title as a freshman in 2010. In 2011, he swept Big 12 long jump titles and leaped to a personal best 26-9¾ (8.17m).



Leonard Korir, Iona – Indoor 5000-meter and outdoor 10,000-meter NCAA champion in 2011. Split a 56.18 final lap to claim the outdoor national title. Also finished third outdoors nationally in the 5000 and sixth indoors at 3000 meters. In clocking 27:29.40 in the 10k at Stanford’s Payton Jordan Invitational in May, he moved to second all-time in collegiate history in the event (Sam Chelanga, 27:08.39, 2010)



Lawi Lalang, Arizona – Had one of the most dominant cross country seasons in NCAA history in 2011. As a second-year freshman, Lalang had a perfect season, going six-for-six in races. He won the NCAA cross country crown by 13 seconds and would win every race by an average of 20.5 seconds which included the Pac-12 title and NCAA West regional crown. [NOTE: But, remember, cross country not considered in determining the award winner]. On the track in 2011, Lalang was the national runner-up in the 5000 meters.



Tony McQuay, Florida – McQuay was the NCAA’s runner-up in the 400 meters at last year’s national outdoor championships. Indoors, McQuay was a national qualifier in both the 200 and 400 meters, and scored a seventh-place spot in the 400 despite injuring himself in the 200-meter preliminaries the previous day. Most impressive was his gold-medal performance at the USATF Championships in the 400 where he fought off a bevy of pros, including 2004 Olympic gold medalist Jeremy Wariner, to take national title in 44.68.



Maurice Mitchell, Florida State – In 2011, Mitchell was the NCAA outdoor 200-meter champion in a wind-aided 19.99 and third-leg of Florida State’s national champion 4×100-meter relay team. He was national runner-up indoors in the 200 and was only bested by Oklahoma’s Mookie Salaam who took the title by two thousandths of a second in a different section. Placed third at the NCAA meet indoors in the 60 and outdoors in the 100 meters. And, he did not lose a 200-meter race in 13 tries during the indoor and outdoor seasons.



Andrew Riley, Illinois – Riley owns NCAA high-hurdle championship titles both indoors and outdoors. In 2011, Riley was the indoor 60-meter hurdle champ which added to his 2010 outdoor 110-hurdle crown. Outside the collegiate season, Riley won the Jamaican national title in the 110 hurdles and placed 14th overall in the World Championships. Overall, Riley is a six-time Big Ten Champion.



ALSO RECEIVING MENTION



NAME
YEAR
SCHOOL
EVENTS
HOMETOWN

Derek Drouin
SR/JR
Indiana
Jumps
Corunna, Ontario

German Fernandez
SR/JR
Oklahoma State
Distance
Riverbank, Calif.

Mason Finley
JR
Kansas
Throws
Salida, Colo.

Tim Glover
JR
Illinois State
Javelin
Normal, Ill.

Ryan Loughney
SR
Ashland
Throws
Grahamsville, N.Y.

Ben Sathre
SR
St. Thomas (Minn.)
Distance
Chaska, Minn.

Maston Wallace
JR
Texas
Pole Vault
Houston, Texas






ABOUT THE BOWERMAN



The Bowerman, which debuted in 2009, is presented annually by the USTFCCCA to the most outstanding male and female collegiate track & field athletes in the nation.



Florida State’s Ngoni Makusha and Texas A&M’s Jessica Beard are the reigning winners of The Bowerman, which is named for legendary Oregon track & field and cross country coach Bill Bowerman.



Bowerman served the sport of track and field in numerous ways. His leadership in the USTFCCCA’s predecessor organization, the National Collegiate Track Coaches Association, and his contributions to NCAA track and field and the running community as a whole are among his many lasting legacies.



For more information on The Bowerman, the award, the trophy, and Bill Bowerman himself, visit TheBowerman.org.



ABOUT THE USTFCCCA



The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) is a non-profit professional organization representing cross country and track & field coaches of all levels. The organization represents over 8,000 coaching members encompassing 94% of all NCAA track & field programs (DI, DII, and DIII) and includes members representing the NAIA as well as a number of state high school coaches associations. The USTFCCCA serves as an advocate for cross country and track & field coaches, providing a leadership structure to assist the needs of a diverse membership, serving as a lobbyist for coaches' interests, and working as a liaison between the various stakeholders in the sports of cross country and track & field.









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Tom Lewis

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

Communications Manager

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