Fan voting accounts for a full vote in the final tally to determine winners
August 1, 2011
NEW ORLEANS – Online fan voting is now underway for The Bowerman – the nation’s top award for collegiate track & field athletes. Three men and three women are finalists for the award, and, you, the fan can help determine this year’s winners. Voting will be conducted at TheBowerman.org through Tuesday, August 16, and its results will amount to one full vote in the overall balloting process.
Over 20,000 votes were cast in online fan voting in 2009 and over 27,000 selections were made in 2010.
Paper balloting by The Bowerman Advisory Board, past winners, selected media personnel, statisticians, and collegiate administrators, is also underway until later this month. An independent accounting firm will collect, tabulate, and certify final results and will keep the result secret until the envelope is opened in December.
The award, in its third year of existence, will be presented in a ceremony at the USTFCCCA Convention on December 14 at the JW Marriott Hill Country, San Antonio, Texas. John Anderson, ESPN SportsCenter anchor and co-host of ABC’s Wipeout, will host the evening’s festivities for the second-straight year. The three female finalists will be made public tomorrow.
THE BOWERMAN FINALISTS, 2011 MEN
Jeshua Anderson, Washington State
Anderson joined BYU’s Ralph Mann (1969-70-71) and Iowa State’s Danny Harris (Perris HS, CA; Iowa State) (1984-85-86) as the only three to win a third NCAA-championship title in the 400-meter hurdles. Anderson took the 2011 NCAA title in 48.56, over a half-second ahead of the rest of the field in the event’s finals. Anderson earned the season’s collegiate best and fifth-fastest all-time collegiate 400-hurdle time of 48.13 in winning a fourth-straight Pac-10 crown.
Ngoni Makusha, Florida State
Makusha won NCAA outdoor titles in the 100 meters and long jump, joining Carl Lewis, Jesse Owens, and Michigan’s DeHart Hubbard as only the fourth man in NCAA Division I history to claim such a double at a single championship. Makusha also claimed the NCAA long jump title during the indoor season, becoming the first since 2006 to sweep the event’s two titles (Arturs Abolins, Nebraska). The Seminole notched a third NCAA outdoor championship title as second-leg of 4x100-meter relay. In addition, Makusha clocked 9.97 to win the ACC outdoor 100-meter crown, and he also swept league titles in the long jump. Makusha’s run of 9.89 in the NCAA’s 100-meter final broke the 1996 collegiate- and championship-meet record of 9.92 set by UCLA’s Ato Bolden, is the Zimbabwean national record, and places Makusha is the world’s top six in the event this year. In the long jump, Makusha’s NCAA-winning mark of 27-6¾ (8.40m) is also a new Zimbabwean national record and places Makusha as the world’s No. 2 long jumper so far in 2011.
Christian Taylor, Florida
Taylor was the winner of the NCAA’s outdoor triple jump title with an all-time, all-conditions collegiate best mark of 58-4¾ (17.80m). The wind-aided title clincher came on the final attempt of a back-and-forth battle with teammate Will Claye. In the same competition, Taylor marked a wind-legal jump of 57-1 (17.40m) in the fourth round to claim the season’s collegiate best mark, current American-leading mark, and performance that places the Gator in the world’s top six so far in 2011. Taylor also finished second at the NCAA Championships indoors to Claye in the triple jump and qualified for both NCAA meets in the long jump. With Florida’s 4x100- and 4x400-meter relay teams, Taylor qualified for the national finals in both events outdoors. At the Penn Relays, Florida’s 4x100 squad finished second in the Championship of America race.
THE BOWERMAN FINALISTS, 2011 WOMEN
Jessica Beard, Texas A&M
Beard became the just the third female in NCAA Division I history, and first since 1999, to win both 400 national titles in the same year and run on both winning 4x400 relays at the NCAA Indoor and NCAA Outdoor Championships. Beard, a four-time Big 12 indoor 400-meter champ, recorded the world’s fastest time over the 400-meter distance indoors with a 50.79 clocking to win the national crown. Outdoors, Beard clocked 51.10 for the NCAA win and split 49.13 for the Aggies as anchor of the NCAA-winning 4x400 relay.
Kimberlyn Duncan, LSU
Duncan swept the NCAA’s 200-meter titles in 2011 and, in both seasons, notched world-leading times. Duncan became the sixth woman in NCAA Division I history and the first since Auburn’s Kerron Stewart in 2007 to sweep 200-meter titles in the same season. Indoors, Duncan won the SEC title in 22.78 for the world’s best time of the season. Outdoors, Duncan was undefeated in the 200 meters and clocked a low-altitude all-time collegiate best (and the third-best overall) with a 22.24 run. Duncan was also the NCAA’s 100-meter runner-up and anchored the Lady Tigers to an NCAA title in the 4x100 (42.64).
Tina Sutej, Arkansas
Sutej set new collegiate records with the pole vault both indoors and outdoors in 2011. Indoors, Sutej would reach a best of 14-10¾ (4.54m) to set the new all-time collegiate best in winning the SEC crown and would go on to win the NCAA title. Outdoors, Sutej again won the SEC league title with a collegiate-record vault – a clearance of 15-1½ (4.61m). Overall, Sutej collected 13-straight meet victories before finishing runner-up at the NCAA outdoor meet where she tied the championship-meet record with Oregon’s Melissa Gergel who took the crown on virtue of misses.
WINNER SELECTION PROCESS
The next step in selecting a winner will be carried out in the next months with voting. The Bowerman Voters will receive ballots listing each of the finalists and must rank them by first, second and third choice. First-place votes will receive three points, second place will notch two, and third will receive one point. The finalist with the highest point total will be declared the winner.
The Bowerman Voters consist of:
• The Bowerman Advisory Board, media personnel, statisticians, collegiate administrators
• Galen Rupp, 2009 men’s winner of The Bowerman
• Ashton Eaton, 2010 men’s winner of The Bowerman
• Jenny (Barringer) Simpson, 2009 women’s winner of The Bowerman
• Queen Harrison, 2010 women’s winner of The Bowerman
• Online voting by the public will constitute one collective vote (ranking of choices will be made by order of total single votes)
• Online voting by USTFCCCA members will constitute one collective vote (ranking of choices will be made by order of total single votes)
Paper balloting will conclude in August while online voting will begin on Monday, August 1 and will last until Tuesday, August 16. An independent accounting firm will collect, tabulate, and certify final results and will keep the result secret until the envelope is opened in December.
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. Oregon's Ashton Eaton and Virginia Tech’s Queen Harrison 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.
---
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
Follow Us: twitter.com/USTFCCCA
No comments:
Post a Comment