BATON ROUGE – After leading the LSU Track & Field teams with their gold-medal-winning performances at the 2013 SEC Outdoor Track & Field Championships, seniors Kimberlyn Duncan and Damar Forbes were honored on Friday afternoon as recipients of SEC postseason awards in a vote of the league’s head coaches.
Duncan is a repeat selection as the SEC Women’s Outdoor Runner of the Year for the second year in a row, while Forbes has been named the SEC Men’s Outdoor Field Athlete of the Year for the first time in his career.
Duncan made history in her final SEC Championships as a Lady Tiger as she led the team to a runner-up finish in the final women’s team race by claiming the SEC Commissioner’s Trophy as the top individual point scorer of the meet. She defended her 100-meter and 200-meter titles and ran the second leg of LSU’s second-place 4×100-meter relay team to score 22 points during the championship.
After defending her SEC Outdoor title in the 100-meter dash with a winning time of 11.32 seconds in the final, Duncan turned in a record-setting performance in her final race at the SEC Championships as she raced to a seasonal best of 22.35 to win her third-straight SEC Outdoor crown in the 200-meter dash. That performance matched the 14-year-old meet record of 22.35 set by Georgia’s Debbie Ferguson in 1999.
Duncan made history as the first sprinter in SEC history to win three-straight SEC Outdoor titles in the women’s 200 meters with her victories in 2011, 2012 and 2013. She also became just the third sprinter in SEC history to sweep 100-meter and 200-meter titles in back-to-back seasons, joining LSU’s Esther Jones (1990-91) and Ferguson (1998-99).
The Katy, Texas, native will wrap up her collegiate career as one of the most decorated Lady Tigers in the history of the SEC Championships as she has tied a school record with 12 SEC event titles during her tenure.
It marks the second-straight season in which Duncan has been named the SEC Women’s Outdoor Runner of the Year as she shared the honors with Florida’s Genevieve LaCaze following the 2012 season.
The reigning Bowerman Award winner and Bowerman Award Watch List member now turns her attention to the NCAA Championships as she is the two-time defending NCAA Outdoor champion in the 200-meter dash and the two-time defending NCAA Outdoor silver medalist in the 100-meter dash. She ranks No. 1 in the 200 meters (22.35) and No. 3 in the 100 meters (11.06w) in the national rankings for the 2013 season.
Forbes has been honored as the SEC Men’s Outdoor Field Athlete of the Year following perhaps the most dramatic victory of this year’s SEC Outdoor Championships while claiming his first career SEC long jump crown.
After trailing Florida’s Marquis Dendy (27-2 ½w) heading into the final round of jumps, Forbes soared to an NCAA-leading and career-best wind-aided mark of 27-4 ½ on his sixth and final attempt to win the SEC title for the first time in his collegiate career. Forbes had previously earned four SEC silver medals in the long jump between the indoor and outdoor seasons before taking the title.
Not only that, but Forbes ran the leadoff leg of LSU’s SEC champion 4×100-meter relay team as he teamed with sophomore Aaron Ernest, freshman Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake and junior Shermund Allsop for the win on Sunday with a seasonal-best time of 38.98. The Tigers took the title over favorites Alabama (39.08) and Texas A&M (39.11) with the NCAA’s third-fastest sprint relay performance this spring.
The Tigers have now won eight SEC Outdoor titles all-time in the men’s 4×100-meter relay with their first win in the event since the 2008 season.
Duncan and Forbes will return to action with the rest of their LSU teammates next weekend as they make their trip to Greensboro, N.C., for the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds scheduled to run from May 23-25 at Irwin Belk Track on the campus of North Carolina A&T University.
2013 SEC Outdoor Track & Field Postseason Awards
SEC Men’s Coach of the Year: Chris Bucknam, Arkansas
SEC Men’s Runner of the Year: Isiah Young, Ole Miss
SEC Men’s Field Athlete of the Year: Damar Forbes, LSU
SEC Men’s Freshman Runner of the Year: Jimmy Clark, Florida
SEC Men’s Freshman Field Athlete of the Year: Maicel Uibo, Georgia
SEC Men’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Nathanael Franks, Arkansas
SEC Women’s Coach of the Year: Pat Henry, Texas A&M
SEC Women’s Runner of the Year: Kimberlyn Duncan, LSU
SEC Women’s Field Athlete of the Year: Makeba Alcide, Arkansas
SEC Women’s Freshman Runner of the Year: Jennifer Madu, Texas A&M
SEC Women’s Freshman Field Athlete of the Year: LaQue Moen-Davis, Texas A&M
SEC Women’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Chelsea Oswald, Kentucky