Prandini Honored with Bowerman
12/18/15 | Track and Field
SAN ANTONIO – Jenna Prandini added to a long list of accolades from the 2015 season by winning the Bowerman Trophy, collegiate track and field's most prestigious individual honor, Thursday night.
Joined by finalists Demi Payne from Stephen F. Austin and Kendra Harrison from Kentucky, it was Prandini who accepted the award from former teammate and 2014 Bowerman winner, Laura Roesler.
Prandini's 2015 season made her the most prolific NCAA Championship point scorer in NCAA history, racking up a total of 49 points between the indoor and outdoor NCAA Championships. At the indoor national championships, she won the long jump, was runner-up at 200 meters and fourth at 60 meters for 23 points. In the outdoor competition, she won at 100 meters and was runner-up both at 200 meters and in the long jump for 26 more. Her 26 points helped the Ducks win their first NCAA outdoor title in 30 years. Prandini's time in the 100 meters was the second-fastest in collegiate history (10.92) and her 200-meter outdoor time was the fourth-fastest (22.21). Both times are Oregon school records.
“To my coaches, thank you for believing in me and pushing me every single day,” Pradnini said on stage. “I wouldn't be standing up here if it weren't for you. You brought me and made me into an athlete I never thought I would be, so thank you. To my teammates and my training partners, I'm here because of you guys. You pushed me every single day and made practice fun, and I'm very thankful for that. To my parents, mom, dad, my brother, my sister and everyone else, thank you for supporting me. Ever since I was little they've been by my side through the good and the bad and I couldn't say enough about them, so thank you very much.”
Prandini brings Oregon's Bowerman Trophy total to four, more than any school in the country. She joins former winners Galen Rupp (2009), Ashton Eaton (2010) and Laura Roesler (2014).
Oregon distance runner Edward Cheserek was a finalist for the second-straight year on the men's side, joining Shawn Barber of Akron and winner Marquis Dendy from Florida in 2015. Cheserek, a junior, is only one of three athletes to twice be nominated as a finalist and is the only finalist from 2015 that will return to collegiate competition in 2016.
