March 14, 2012

Complete USTFCCCA Release

NEW ORLEANS - Stanford senior Chris Derrick was added to the USTFCCCA Bowerman Watch List on Monday. The Bowerman Award is given to the nation's top track and field athlete and will be given later this summer. Derrick is now one of 10 on the award known as the 'Heisman of Track and Field'.

Also added to the seven-personal list were Duke's Curtis Beach and Arkansas' Andrew Irwin, the award's watch list committee announced on Wednesday. The trio was selected for the list of ten watched for collegiate track & field's top award as a result of successful indoor track & field seasons that culminated last weekend at the NCAA Championships.

Beach was promoted to the watch list from the "also receiving mention" pool while Derrick and Irwin are newly recognized for either levels. Beach was the NCAA champion in the heptathlon with an impressive score, topped off with a heptathlon world record in the 1000 meters. Derrick was the nation's runner-up in the 3000 and 5000 meters with gutsy performances. And, Irwin, a freshman, won his first NCAA title in the pole vault last weekend.

THE BOWERMAN OFFICIAL WATCH LIST, 2012 MEN
(updated March 14, listed in alphabetical order, always ten names)

NAME, YEAR, SCHOOL, EVENTS, HOMETOWN
Miles Batty, SR, BYU, Distance, Sandy, Utah
Curtis Beach, (P) JR, Duke, Combined Events, Albuquerque, N.M.
Jeff Demps, JR/SR, Florida, Sprints, Winter Garden, Fla.
Chris Derrick, (N) SR, Stanford, Distance, Naperville, Ill.
Jarret Eaton, SR, Syracuse, Hurdles, Abington, Pa.
Marquise Goodwin, JR Texas Jumps/Sprints Garland, Texas
Andrew Irwin, (N) FR, Arkansas, Pole Vault, Mt. Ida, Ark.
Lawi Lalang, SO, Arizona, Distance, Eldoret, Kenya
Tony McQuay, JR, Florida, Sprints, Riviera Beach, Fla.
Maurice Mitchell, SR, Florida State, Sprints, Kansas City, Mo.

More on Derrick:
At the NCAA Indoor Championships, Derrick had a pair of gutsy runner-up performances in the distance events that had the track world buzzing. In the 5000 meters, Derrick took the race's lead with four laps to go (800 meters) from Arizona duo Lawi Lalang and Stephen Sambu. Sambu would drop off by the next lap and it became a one-on-one battle with Lalang. At the bell, the two were just seven-hundredths-of-a-second from each other side-by-side. Although Lalang would close with a 28.09 final lap to take victory, Derrick's 29.79 and final 400 meters of 60.32 gained great acclaim. The following evening in the 3000 meters, the two squared off again. Derrick took the lead with two laps to go and the duo again was side-by-side through the tape where Lalang was declared the victor by just 17-hundreths-of-a second. In the final lap of the 3000, Derrick split 27.39 and finished the final 400 in 56.22. Derrick also anchored the Cardinal to a second-place showing at the MPSF Championships in the DMR and was second in the mile at 3:59.13 (OT).