The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Men's Track Olympians head to White House
09.12.2012 | Track & Field / Cross Country m, Track & Field / Cross Country
Sept. 12, 2012
Marquise Goodwin and Leo Manzano will travel to Washington, to be honored for their accomplishments at the London Olympics.
President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama to will honor the 2012 U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Teams Friday at the White House.
Manzano, a five-time NCAA champion for the Longhorns, won the silver in the 1,500 meters, becoming the first American to medal in that event at the Olympics since Jim Ryun in the 1968 Mexico City Games.
Manzano also became just the fourth American medalist in the 1500 since the 1920 Olympics. Bo McMillen earned the silver in the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki. Glenn Cunningham was a silver medalist at the 1936 Berlin games.
Goodwin finished 10th in the long jump.
Goodwin, a three-time NCAA long jump champion, reached the Olympics by winning the event at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene, Ore.
He leapt a career-best 8.33m (27-4.00) on the final attempt at the event to earn a spot on the Olympic Team. Goodwin's Trials victory followed his impressive junior campaign at Texas in which he won the NCAA Outdoor title with a then personal-best mark of 8.23m (27-0).
Goodwin was the first collegian to win both the Olympic Trials and the NCAA Outdoors long jump competition in the same year since 1960.
The senior on the football team will join the Longhorns Friday night as they prepare to face Ole Miss Saturday.
Trey Hardee was the third American from the Texas men's track and field program to take part in the Olympics.
He won the silver medal in the decathlon will be unable to attend the event due to a previously scheduled commitment.
Manzano and Hardee became the sixth and seventh Longhorns, respectively, to earn Olympic medals.