Bryan, Manning named top athletes

ACU softball, football standouts win Paul Goad Award

ABILENE -- Senior softball player Katie Bryan of Abilene and sophomore football standout Danieal Manning have been named the winners of the Paul Goad Award, signifying the top female and male athletes, respectively, at Abilene Christian University during the 2004-05 school year.

Bryan -- a 2004 third team all-America selection at first base -- has re-written the ACU softball record book in her four-year career with the Wildcats, who are still waiting to find out if they will earn their first bid to the NCAA Division II South Central Region tournament.  ACU finished the regular season at 30-20 and is ranked No. 6 in the latest regional rankings.  The top six teams in the final poll of the season will be invited to the regional tournament, and those invitations will be made public either late Sunday, May 8, or Monday, May 9.

Bryan is the owner of six career and five single-season hitting records, including most games played in a career (190).  Bryan is ACU's career leader in home runs (35) and RBI (168), as well as runs scored (145), hits (223) and total bases (374).

The 2005 season has been a special one for Bryan, who last week was named the Lone Star Conference South Division Player of the Year after hitting .428 with 16 home runs and 55 RBI during the season.  Both the home run and RBI total are ACU single-season records, as are her 127 total bases and 34 walks.  Her slugging percentage is an astounding .836 percent, which will shatter the previous single-season record of .690 that she set in 2004.

On Friday, April 1, in a doubleheader sweep of Eastern New Mexico, Bryan had one of the best days of her career as she finished the two games a combined 6 for 8 with four home runs and 12 RBI.  She had two home runs and six RBI in each game with the home run total tying the ACU single-game record and the RBI total setting a new ACU single-game mark.

Bryan finished the season with 13 multi-RBI games, 20 multi-hit games, and she was intentionally walked 11 times, including eight times in a four-game series against Texas Woman's in April.

Manning -- the Wildcats' multi-talented sophomore -- was named to six all-America football teams after the 2004 season either as a kick returner or defensive back. Manning was named first team all-America by d2football.com, Dopke.com, the American Football Coaches' Association and Don Hansen's Football Gazette; second team by the Associated Press and Daktronics; and honorable mention defensive back by Don Hansen's Football Gazette.

He was also selected as the return specialist on the all-Texas College team that was put together by the Houston Chronicle.  The all-Texas Team also includes running back Cedric Benson of Texas, running back Jamario Thomas of North Texas, quarterback Dustin Long of Sam Houston State (formerly of Texas A&M) and linebacker Derrick Johnson of Texas.

Manning, a sophomore from Corsicana, also earned first team NCAA all-Southwest Region honors as a defensive back by Daktronics and Don Hansen's Football Gazette.  One of the most dynamic players in the Lone Star Conference, Manning was named the LSC South Division Defensive Back of the Year this year.  Last season, Manning was named first team and the division's Freshman of the Year.  He also earned first team all-region honors and third team all-America honors by Don Hansen's Football Gazette.  He was named pre-season all-America by Don Hansen's Football Gazette prior to the start of the 2004 season.

After picking off six passes as a freshman in 2003, Manning had just two interceptions in 2004 as teams threw away from his side of the field.  But he found other ways to impact games, returning two punts, one kickoff and one fumble for touchdowns during the season.

He led the LSC in both punt return and kickoff return average at  22.0 yards and 29.2 yards per return, respectively.  He had a 55-yard punt return for a touchdown against Northeastern State, a 73-yard punt return for a touchdown against Tarleton State, a 91-yard kickoff return for a score against Angelo State and a 44-yard fumble return for a touchdown against the Rams with less than three minutes to play that gave ACU a 29-25 win over ASU.