Colorado senior Jenny Barringer has been awarded the 2009 Honda Sports Award in track and field, designating her as the nation’s top collegiate female athlete in her sport. The honor is based on the results of national balloting among 1,000 NCAA member schools as part of the Collegiate Women Sports Awards program, now in its 33rd year.
The Honda Sports Award is given annually to the top female athletes in 12 NCAA-sanctioned sports, along with automatic nomination for Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year. Barringer was voted over three other nominees: Sarah Bowman, a senior at the University of Tennessee, Tiffany Ofili, a senior at the University of Michigan and Blessing Okagbare, a junior at the University of Texas at El Paso. The candidates were selected by women’s track and field coaches around the nation.
Barringer competed for the U.S. Olympic Team at the 2008 Games in Beijing and finished ninth in the 3,000m steeplechase, setting an American record of 9 minutes, 22.26 seconds. She is a four-time USTFCCCA All-American, as well as a four-time Midwest Region Steeplechase Champion and three-time Big 12 Champion.
The Oviedo, Fla. Native completed a record-breaking season in her final year at the CU. She captured her first Big 12 indoor championship in the mile run with an NCAA record-setting time of 4:25.91, the fastest time recorded in the world in 2009. She also ran a time of 15:01.70 in the 5,000-meter run at the Husky Classic, breaking the former record of 15:14.18 from 2004 ? the second fastest by an American woman in 2009. She completed her sweep of indoor NCAA records when she set the 3k mark en route to her first ever indoor crown, winning in a record time of 8:42.03.
Barringer continued her record-breaking streak in the outdoor season, debuting at the Oregon Relays with a mark of 4:08.38 in the 1,500-meter run, followed the next day with 2:05.43 in the 800 ? the second fastest time run by a Buff in 29 years.
For the Big 12 Outdoor Championship, Barringer debuted in her specialty event, the 3,000-meter steeplechase. She won with 9:58.14, over 30 seconds faster than the runner-up. She went on to became CU’s first four-time regional champion when she captured the steeplechase title in the fastest time ever run on American soil (9:26.20), which is also the fastest in the world this year, as well as an NCAA, meet and stadium record.
Barringer is a political science and economics major and will graduate in December. The eight-time member of the Big 12 Commissioner’s honor roll carries a 3.564 GPA and has been a member of the Dean’s List four times. She is a three-time member of the Academic All-Big 12 First Team.
The Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year will be determined by separate balloting involving all NCAA-member institutions and the winner will receive the Honda-Broderick Cup at a ceremony in New York on June 22.