Jenny Barringer’s (Econ, PolSci’09), right, 2009 track and field season was possibly the best ever recorded by a collegiate athlete, male or female. She signed on with New Balance in January. At left is freshman Allie McLaughlin who placed fifth at the NCAA meet in November. Photo courtesy of CU athletics.

Jenny Barringer (Econ, PolSci’09), who set six NCAA records as a senior, was given the inaugural Bowerman award, which recognizes the outstanding collegiate women’s track and field athlete in the nation. Barringer won two NCAA track titles as a senior (the indoor 3,000 and the steeplechase), giving her a CU-female-record four for her career. She didn’t lose a college race during the 2009 track season.

The 2008 Olympian also was voted women’s college athlete of the year by the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame for the second straight time and was named the college athlete of the year for 2009 by Mile High Sports Magazine.

Barringer, the Big 12 and NCAA regional champion in cross country, struggled in her college finale, the NCAA cross country meet, where she was considered the prerace favorite. She fell during the race and finished 163rd.

“She’s had a lot of great races for us and was probably bound to have one not-so-great one,” coach Mark Wetmore says.

Freshman Allie McLaughlin earned All-America honors with a fifth-place finish at the NCAA meet where the CU men placed sixth in the team standings and the women 20th.

“I really wanted to enjoy every second of it,” Barringer says. “The fans were supportive, the weather was beautiful and I got to wear my favorite uniform on my home course for the last time. There was a lot of meaning to everything I did today.”

Meanwhile, CU senior Kenyon Neuman captured the men’s 8k title in 24:51. The Buffs won both the men’s and women’s team titles for the 11th consecutive year.

Jenny Barringer, a senior, is the first CU female in any sport to win four NCAA titles.

Senior Jenny Barringer concluded her CU track and field career in style in June, winning her third NCAA outdoor 3,000-meter steeplechase title, this one in Fayetteville, Ark. Barringer posted a time of 9:25.54, a college record, in winning by more than 15 seconds.

“This was an exciting win,” she says. “I’m happy to have it behind me. It’s tough to come in and be a heavy favorite. I just had to keep my mind right and go out there and take care of business. It felt great.”

Barringer, a 2008 Olympian, didn’t lose a single college race during the indoor and outdoor season and became the first CU track athlete to capture three titles in the same event. Overall, Barringer owns four NCAA track championships, including an indoor 3,000-meter title in March, making her the first CU female in any sport to win four NCAA titles.

Meanwhile, junior Brandin Williams became the first CU male in 47 years to claim a conference title in the javelin, winning the event at the Big 12 Championships in Lubbock, Texas. Williams and Barringer were the only Buffs to capture titles at the Big 12 meet, and Barringer also won the NCAA regional title in the steeplechase.

In late June, CU assistant coach Casey Malone (discus), Barringer (3,000 steeplechase for the second time) and former Buff runner Kara Grgas-Wheeler Goucher (Psych’01) (women’s 5,000m for the second straight year) won their events at the USA Track & Field Championships in Eugene, Ore. It was Malone’s first USATF title.

Barringer’s 2009 season included being named the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Female Track Athlete of the Year (indoor and outdoor), winning the Honda Sports Award for being the top college female track and field athlete in the nation and being one of five finalists for the Honda-Broderick Cup, given to the country’s top female college athlete.

She plans to compete for CU in cross country in the fall before graduating in December.

Junior Jordan Kyle earned All-America honors as the cross country team placed 12th at the NCAA Championships.

Runner Jenny Barringer, who won the 2008 NCAA steeplechase title and placed ninth in the Olympics, was chosen female college athlete of the year by the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame. She’ll be honored at the Hall of Fame banquet April 14 in Denver.
Barringer, a senior, is the first Buff to earn the college athlete honor since football running back Chris Brown (A&S ex’02) in 2002.

Meanwhile, the CU men’s cross country team placed 12th at the NCAA Championships, the first time they haven’t cracked the top 10 since 1992. Junior Jordan Kyle finished 14th individually, earning All-America honors for the second time.

“Honestly, Jordan was the only guy who had a decent race,” coach Mark Wetmore says. “The rest of the guys were way off of what they should be… I and those other six guys failed to get it done today.”

The CU men won the NCAA regional meet for the sixth straight year, and Wetmore was named NCAA Mountain Region Men’s Coach of the Year for the 14th time.

The CU women didn’t qualify for the national meet for the first time since 1991.