BATON ROUGE — LSU All-American Keisha Spencer has been named winner of the prestigious Honda Award as the premier women’s athlete in track and field.
The Honda Awards Program, in its 23rd year, recognizes the top woman collegiate athlete in each of 12 different sports. Spencer and the 11 other recipients named on Friday will be honored at a banquet in Orlando, Fla., on June 12 where the Honda-Broderick Cup will be announced, acknowledging the overall College Woman Athlete of the Year.
Spencer is the first LSU woman to win a Honda Award since former track and field All-American D’Andre Hill in 1996.
“First of all, it’s a great honor for a great person,” said LSU head coach Pat Henry. “A lot of athletes are considered for this award. It’s one of the premier honors a collegiate woman can receive. If you look at the history of the award, it’s a very meaningful award and a tremendous honor. For as many tremendous athletes as LSU has had, we’ve only ever had one athlete win it for track and field – D’Andre Hill and she was an Olympian and a national champion. That s peaks volumes of what Keisha has accomplished winning this award.
“We are extremely happy for her and proud of her. She’s done just a wonderful job and she has a tremendous future.”
The senior from Clarendon, Jamaica is in the midst of the one of the most dominant seasons an LSU track and field athlete has ever had. Spencer has already won the SEC Indoor and Outdoor and NCAA Indoor titles in the triple jump. In addition, she won the triple jump titles at both the Texas Relays and USTCA National Team Invitational Championships.
Spencer is a perfect 11-0 in the triple jump against American collegiate competition this year. Her NCAA Indoor-winning jump of 46 feet 1 + inches is the fourth best jump in collegiate history.
She has continued her torrid pace during the outdoor season. Over a three-week stretch she broke three of the more prominent stadium records in collegiate track and field. In a three-week period she broke stadium records at Cromwell Field on the campus of Southern California, the Mike A. Myers Stadium record at the University of Texas and the Bernie Moore Track Stadium record at LSU.
She leads the nation in the triple jump heading into next weekend’s NCAA Outdoor Championships with a wind-aided jump of 46-2 +, recorded in winning the SEC Outdoor title in Baton Rouge on May 14. Earlier this season she broke Suzette Lee’s LSU record with a best legal jump of 45-10 at the Texas Relays. She is one of only four women in NCAA history to jump better than 46-feet.
A standout long jumper as well, Spencer was the SEC Outdoor runner-up with a personal best jump of 21-8 +. The mark ranks third in the nation heading into next weekend’s NCAA Championships and is the fourth-best mark in school history.
Other Honda Award recipients were Jen Adams, Maryland, lacrosse; Courtney Blades, Southern Mississippi, softball; Heather Brink, gymnastics, Nebraska; Lauren Cacciamani, Penn State, volleyball; Jenna Daniels, Arizona, golf; Lorrie Fair, North Carolina, soccer; Marissa Irvin, Stanford, tennis; Sally Northcraft, Ball State, field hockey; Shea Ralph, Connecticut, basketball; Cristina Teushcer, Columbia, swimming and diving; Amy Yoder, Arkansas, cross country.