June 30, 2006

Irving, Texas - University of Houston junior Ebonie Floyd UTEP and senior Mircea Bogdan were named the 2006 Conference USA Outdoor Track and Field Female and Male Athletes of the Year, respectively, on Friday following a vote of the league's head coaches. Bogdan and Floyd both helped lead their respective teams to C-USA Outdoor Track and Field Championship team titles in May and earned All-America honors at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championship earlier this month.

Floyd returned from a two-year absence to dominate the sprints at the C-USA Outdoor Championship, winning both the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes. She was the high-point scorer at the Championship, also anchoring the 4x100-meter relay team to a title.

The Houston native earned All-America honors in the 200-meter dash in Sacramento, Calif. after a fifth-place finish in the 200 meters, clocking a time of 23.04 in the final. She also competed in the 100-meter dash and 4x100-meter relay at the NCAAs. Floyd secured a runner-up finish in the 100-meter dash at the NCAA Midwest Region and took third in the 200-meter dash at the regional meet.

Last week, Floyd registered a fourth-place finish in the 200 meters at the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships with a time of 22.77 seconds. Earlier in the meet, she set a UH school record for the 200 meters in the semifinals, clocking a time of 22.63 seconds. The former record of 22.68 seconds was set by former USA Olympian Jackie Washington in 1986. It was the second school record she has set in her comeback season. She also broke UH's school record in the 400 meters with a time of 51.66 seconds at the LSU Alumni Gold Invitational. That was her only 400 meter race during the 2006 outdoor campaign.

Bogdan raced to a second-place finish in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the NCAA meet in Sacremento. His eight points helped lead the Miners to a seventh-place team finish overall. The Romania native scored 26 crucial points at the C-USA Outdoor Championship, helping UTEP claim both the men's indoor and outdoor league titles this season.

Bogdan won the 5,000-meter race and finished runner-up in the 3,000-meter steeplechase and 1,500-meter runs on his home track at Kidd Field in El Paso and also was victorious at the NCAA Midwest Region in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.