Ryan Whiting selected for Pac-10 Tom Hansen Medal
National champion thrower joins soccer standout Liz Harkin at Arizona State's honorees
Ryan Whiting, a senior on the Arizona State track and field team, has been named a 2009-10 Pacific-10 Tom Hansen Conference Medal of Honor recipient, the Conference announced this week. Awarded annually to each member institution’s outstanding senior male and senior female student-athlete based on the exhibition of the greatest combination of performance and achievement in scholarship, athletics and leadership, Whiting is joined by Liz Harkin of the Sun Devil soccer program as ASU’s honorees this academic year.
One of the top collegiate shot put competitors in NCAA history, Whiting recently won the national title in the discus at the 2010 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Eugene, Ore., to give him five career titles with his discus crown added to three-consecutive indoor shot put titles and last year’s outdoor shot put crown. The clear national leader in the shot put this year, Whiting has recorded marks of over 70-feet in seven competitions for nine total in his career, both of which are the most all-time (second place is four in a season and six in a career).
Currently ranked second in the world, Whiting won the Pac-10 title before adding the NCAA Preliminary Round West Site title two weeks ago where he set a school record with a toss of 21.83m (71-07.75). With one collegiate competition remaining for Whiting, he will once again take aim at the collegiate record of 22.00m while battling for his fifth career national shot put title.
Outside of his athletic achievements, Whiting has found great success in the classroom and has maintained a high grade-point average throughout his career. For his efforts, he has been selected to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District VIII First Team each of the last three years (including 2010) and, in each of the past two seasons, was selected as an ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American (the 2010 team has not been announced yet). He also has been selected as the 2008 USTFCCCA Men’s Division I Indoor Scholar-Athlete of the Year. On the conference level, he has been honored three times each by both the Pac-10 (outdoor) and the MPSF (indoor).
Whiting’s selection for this award makes him the 10th Sun Devil to be so honored since ASU joined the Pac-10 Conference in 1979 and makes him just the third track & field man to earn the award, joining Brandon Strong (2002) and Kyle Alcorn (2008). Alcorn and Jacquelyn Johnson were the last two track & field standouts to be honored as both earned the Medal at the end of the 2007-08 season.
Whiting and several of his teammates will compete in the NCAA Championships Friday and Saturday in Eugene. CBS will carry live coverage of the action on Saturday, including the shot put finals, starting at 10 a.m.
2009-10 Pacific-10 Tom Hansen Conference Medal of Honor Recipients
Arizona - Jean Basson (Swimming) & Justine Schluntz (Swimming)
Arizona State - Ryan Whiting (Track & Field) & Liz Harkin (Soccer)
California - Jerome Randle (Basketball) & Hana Cutura (Volleyball)
Oregon - Ashton Eaton (Track & Field) & Keshia Baker (Track & Field)
Oregon State - Diego Velasquez (Golf) & Mandi Rodriguez (Gymnastics)
Stanford - Toby Gerhart (Football) & Carly Janiga (Gymnastics)
UCLA - Mustafa Abdul-Hamid (Basketball) & Kaitlin Sather (Softball)
USC - Jeff Byers (Football) & Kelly Lucas (Water Polo)
Washington - Nick Taylor (Golf) & Danielle Lawrie (Softball)
Washington State - Matt Lamb (Track & Field) & Kiersten Dallstream (Soccer)
Pacific-10 Tom Hansen Conference Medal of Honor Recipients - ASU Track & Field Honorees
1989 - Jacinta Bartholomew
1991 - Gea Johnson
2002 - Brandon Strong & Kelly MacDonald
2003 - Lisa Aguilera
2007 - Amy Hastings
2008 - Kyle Alcorn & Jacquelyn Johnson
2010 - Ryan Whiting