The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Vigilante selected USTFCCA Assistant Coach of the Year, Manzano named top track athlete
03.18.2008 | XC: Men_Old, Track & Field / Cross Country
NEW ORLEANS --- The United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches' Association (USTFCCCA) named Texas' Associate Head coach Jason Vigilante as the 2008 National Assistant Coach of the Year and four-time NCAA champion Leo Manzano as the 2008 National Track Athlete of the Year, respectively, on Tuesday.
The national honors are a first for both Vigilante and Texas senior Manzano (Marble Falls, Texas), who were the top selections in the South Central Region prior to the 2008 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championship last weekend. Vigilante and Manzano contributed to the Longhorns' third-place team finish, which tied the program-best performance by a Texas men's track and field team.
Vigilante mentored the middle and long distance groups during the 2008 season. His event area contributed 28 of 34 points in UT's program-best finish at the NCAA championships. Under Vigilante's guidance, the distance-medley relay and Manzano captured NCAA titles as he coached four individual NCAA qualifiers and the DMR at the national meet. During the regular season, Vigilante guided the DMR to a world-record setting performance at the Tyson Invitational, led three four-minute milers in Manzano, redshirt junior Kyle Miller and senior Jake Morse, and mentored automatic qualifier Jacob Hernandez in the 800-meter run. Additionally, Morse gave Texas its only multi-event qualifier of the season as he met the provisional standard in two events - 3,000m and the mile.
Manzano, who has emerged as one of the best middle distance runners in the NCAA, anchored the world-record setting and the national champion distance-medley relays. He made a name for himself and established consistency at the conference and national level. In winning the Big 12 crown, he became the first student-athlete in Big 12 history to win the mile run in four consecutive seasons. At the national meet, he became the first Longhorn in program history to win two NCAA titles at the same meet. He added his third and fourth NCAA championships as the anchor leg of the DMR and as the defending champion in the mile. He met the automatic standard with the fourth-fastest time prior to the NCAA meet. Manzano, the 2008 South Central Region Track Athlete of the Year, led a trio of UT milers into the national meet.
During his time on the Forty Acres, Manzano has captured four NCAA titles and 11 All-American honors. The three-time NCAA Midwest Region champion is also the Texas school record holder in the mile and the 1,500-meter run, and has run on the school-best indoor and outdoor DMRs. Internationally, he represented the U.S. at the 2008 International Association of Athletic Federations (IAAF) World Championships in Osaka, Japan in August of 2007.
The 2008 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championship will air on Thursday, March 20 from 3-4:30 p.m. Central on ESPN2.
