Armory Champ Beard Claims 'Heisman'

Jessica Beard from Texas A&M — last season's 400-meter dash winner at the New Balance Collegiate Invitational — was named the recipient of The Bowerman, along with Ngoni Makusha of Florida State. That award is the college track & field equivalent of the Heisman Trophy.

Beard won NCAA crowns both indoors and out in the 400 meters and 4x400 relay in 2011. Makusha joined Carl Lewis and Jesse Owens in winning the 100 meter-long jump double at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in June.

Beard (Euclid, Ohio) 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.

At the USATF Championships (not considered part of the collegiate season), Beard placed fourth in the 400 meters, running a season’s best 51.06 in the national final.

Makusha (Seke, Zimbabwe) 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) was also a new Zimbabwean national record.

Makusha announced shortly after the NCAA Championships that he had decided to forgo his senior season of eligibility and had elected to turn professional. Makusha was the first man in ACC history to be a Bowerman finalist and now the league’s first Bowerman winner.