Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Duncan, Theisen Named DI National Women's Athletes of the Year

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Duncan, Theisen Named DI National Women’s Athletes of the Year



June 13, 2012



NEW ORLEANS – The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) announced that LSU’s Kimberlyn Duncan and Oregon’s Brianne Theisen were the association’s National Women’s Athletes of the Year, as voted by the nation’s coaches, for the 2012 NCAA Division I outdoor track & field season. Duncan claimed national titles in the 200 meters and 4x100 relay to help lead LSU to the national team crown while Theisen won her third NCAA heptathlon championship with the best score in collegiate history since 1995.



NATIONAL WOMEN’S TRACK ATHLETE OF THE YEAR: Kimberlyn Duncan, LSU



A junior from Katy, Texas, Duncan helped lead the Lady Tigers of LSU to the national team title, scoring 20½ team points with national titles in two events and a runner-up showing in another.



Duncan won the 200 meters for the second-straight year at the national outdoor championships, completing a second-straight year of sweeping indoor and outdoor national crowns in the event. She crushed the field in each of the NCAA’s four rounds, winning each race by at least three tenths of a second. In the event’s final, Duncan clocked 22.86 despite a 2.3 meters-per-second headwind. In the national semifinal Duncan claimed a new low-altitude all-time collegiate best time of 22.19 seconds -- a time that is dubbed as the second-fastest time in collegiate history and is the world-leading mark so far this 2012 season.



She also anchored LSU to their second-straight 4x100 relay national crown. In the semifinals, the squad claimed the collegiate-best time of the year and seventh fastest in collegiate history with a 42.68-second readout. The finals time of 42.75 is now the eighth-fastest time in collegiate history.



All told, Duncan now has six NCAA titles to her credit – four with the 200 meters and two with the 4x100 relay.



Duncan received a third USTFCCCA First-Team All-America honor in placing second at the NCAA meet in the 100 meters in a time of 11.16 seconds.



Duncan was named the SEC’s Co-Women’s Runner of the Year for the season after conference titles in the 100 meters, 200 meters, and the 4x100 relay. She set an SEC meet-record time of 10.96 seconds in the 100 meters and marked the second-fastest all-conditions time in collegiate history with a 22.12 run to win the league title in the 200 meters.



She was also named this season’s Most Outstanding Performer of the Texas Relays.



Past Winners:

2012: Kimberlyn Duncan, LSU

2011: Sheila Reid, Villanova

2010: Lisa Koll, Iowa State

2009: Jenny Barringer, Colorado

2008: Sally Kipyego, Texas Tech

2007: Natasha Hastings, South Carolina

2006: Virginia Powell, Southern California





NATIONAL WOMEN’S FIELD ATHLETE OF THE YEAR: Brianne Theisen, Oregon



Theisen, a senior from Humboldt, Sasktachewan, won her third NCAA heptathlon title this outdoor season. Theisen joins Houston’s Jolanda Jones (1986-87-89) and Arizona State’s Jacquelyn Johnson (2006-07-08) as the only three-time titlists in the event. For Theisen, the outdoor title marked the seventh NCAA crown of her career. Among NCAA Division I women, Theisen is now tied for fourth on the all-time championship-titles list, including relays and across both indoor and outdoor track & field. She only trails Texas’ Carlette Guidry (12), Texas’ Suziann Reid (10), and Wisconsin’s Suzy Favor (9) in career national crowns.



Her heptathlon score of 6,440 in this year’s championships is a new personal best and is the best in collegiate and meet history since 1995 when George Mason’s Diane Guthrie-Gresham set the standard of 6,527. Theisen used personal bests in the 100 hurdles (13.30), shot put (42-4¾, 12.92m), long jump (20-7¼, 6.28m), and javelin (152-2, 46.38m) to compile her winning score.



Theisen also recorded the now-fourth best score in collegiate history of 6,353 to win the Pac-12 title in league-record fashion earlier in the season.



Past Winners:

2012: Brianne Theisen, Oregon

2011: Tina Sutej, Arkansas

2010: Brianne Theisen, Oregon

2009: Kim Williams, Florida State

2008: Brittney Reese, Mississippi

2007: Jenny Dahlgren, Georgia

2006: Jenny Dahlgren, Georgia / Jacquelyn Johnson, Arizona State









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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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