The United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association announced Monday that Kansas University juniors Ashley Brown and Crystal Manning have been named Outdoor All-Americans.
The All-American honors brought Kansas’ 2007 outdoor haul to eight individual student-athletes, the most in school history during the outdoor season.
Brown finished 10th in the women’s 400-meter hurdles at the NCAA Championships in a school-record time of 57.15 seconds. She narrowly missed the finals of the event by two-tenths of a second when she finished her semifinal heat in 57.46. She broke her own school record in the event’s opening round.
Manning placed ninth in the women’s triple jump with a leap of 42 feet, 81â4 inches. She missed eighth place and scoring at the meet by 1-11â4, as Toledo’s April Williams leapt 42-91â2. In the event’s preliminaries, Manning jumped 43-91â4. She also shattered the school record this year when she won the Big 12 title with a jump of 44-113â4.
In Division I track and field, the top eight finishers in each event at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, including relays, are accorded All-America status. In the individual (non-relay) events, if one or more of the top eight finishers are of another nationality, eight American-born athletes are selected in addition to any foreign-born All-Americans.
The All-America honors by Manning and Brown also bring the KU women’s total to four in 2007, the most in school history. KU previously landed three female outdoor All-Americans in 1999 and 2005.
Excluding student-athletes who became All-Americans through participation on a relay team, the eight named this spring is the most ever in KU history for student-athletes participating in individual events. The previous high was seven in 1959.
