Franklin and Manning Top 2012 Colorado Athletes-of-the-Year

Denver Broncos Press Release DENVER — Four-time Olympic gold medalist Missy Franklin joins Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning as the 2012 Colorado Athletes-of-the-Year, the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame announced on Tuesday. The pair will be honored with five other competitors from the “Centennial” state at the 2013 Colorado Sports Hall of Fame banquet on April 18, at the Denver Marriott City Center Hotel.Peyton Manning At a meeting on Tuesday, the Selection Committee of the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame picked Manning as the Professional Athlete-of-the-Year after leading the Broncos to the NFL playoffs. Franklin was selected as Colorado’s Amateur Athlete-of-the-Year for the second-straight year as she won five swimming medals at the London 2012 Olympic Games. Other Athletes-of-the-Year selections were collegiate standouts Shalaya Kipp (University of Colorado track and cross country) and Ross Dausin (Colorado State University at Pueblo football), high school honorees Bonnie Brandon (Cherry Creek swimming) and Wilkins Dismuke (Rock Canyon lacrosse), and Disabled Athlete Recognition Award winner Lacey Henderson (National Sports Center for the Disabled). The Athletes-of-the-Year selections will be honored at the April 18 banquet along with the newest Colorado Sports Hall of Fame inductees Steve Atwater, Don Baylor, Don Cockroft, Adam Foote, Steve Jones and Stan Williams. The Colorado Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2013 was selected this past October. Tickets are $175 each and Sponsor tables start at $2,500. For additional for ticket and table information, please telephone the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame (www.coloradosports.org, 720/258-3535). The Colorado Sports Hall of Fame & Museum is located at Gate 1 on the west side of Sports Authority Field at Mile High at 1701 Bryant Street in Denver. Sponsors of the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame are Gatorade, AT&T Mobility, Wells Fargo and Denver Post. *** Franklin won a total of five swimming medals at the London 2012 Olympic Games where she swept the women’s backstroke events, winning gold in both the 100-meter and 200-meter events. She also won gold medals in the 4×200-meter freestyle and 4×100-meter medley relays, and a bronze medal in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay. At year’s end, Franklin was named the World Swimmer of the Year and American Swimmer of the Year by Swimming World Magazine. A senior at Regis Jesuit High School, Franklin was initially honored by the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame as the prep athlete of the year in 2010 before capturing the top amateur honor in 2011 for her performance in world championships. Manning led the Broncos to their second consecutive division title and the AFC’s No. 1 seed while setting every major franchise single-season passing mark in his first year with the club. Named to his 12th Pro Bowl – tops among quarterbacks in NFL history – Manning finished the 2012 regular season with team records for completions (400), passing yards (4,659), completion percentage (68.6%), touchdowns (37) and passer rating (105.8). He directed Denver to 11 straight wins to finish the regular season while capturing AFC Offensive Player of the Month honors in October and December. Manning also passed Hall of Famer Dan Marino for the second-most wins (154) by a starting quarterback in NFL history in addition to overtaking Brett Favre for the most career games (73) with at least three touchdown passes. Kipp became the first CU athlete to win an individual Pac-12 title by capturing the 3000-meter steeplechase crown (9:57.39). After becoming the third Buff runner to capture the steeplechase event at the NCAA Championships (9:49.02), Kipp posted a career best of 9:35.73 in the U. S. Olympic Trials. With a third-place finish in the Olympic Trials, Kipp joined event winner and Buff teammate Emma Coburn on the United States Olympic Team. In London, Kipp and Emma Coburn became just the third and fourth CU student-athletes to participate in a summer Olympic Games with eligibility remaining. Kipp ended the year with an 18th-place finish at the nationals to record her third straight All-American cross country honor. Dausin compiled a 32-4 record as a three-year starting at CSU-Pueblo (best in school history) from 2010-2012 as he led the Thunderwolves to back-to-back 11-0 RMAC Championship regular-season titles the last two years. The 2012ThunderWolves not only captured the RMAC title, but was the No. 1-ranked team in NCAA Division II for the final five weeks of the regular season. Dausin was named the Offensive Player of the Year by both the RMAC and the Colorado Chapter of the National Football Foundation. He earned All-American honors from the Beyond Sports College Network as he broke nearly every single-season and career school passing records in 2012. Dausin finished the season ranked sixth in the nation passer rating by completing 68 percent of his passes during for 3,011 yards and 25 touchdowns. Brandon won the 200-meter IM and 500-mter freestyle events at the Class 5A state meet last February, both in state record time, and also was on two state championship relay teams to help the Bruins to a state runner-up team finish. She finished her career with 14 state titles, seven in individual events. Brandon competed at the U.S. Olympic Trials, her second time at the event. She is now swimming at the University of Arizona. Missy FranklinDismuke was the Colorado Player of the Year in 2012 as he scored 67 goals with 104 total points. A prep All-American lacrosse player, he was named to the “Warrior 40 MVP” this past summer. Dismuke is recognized by most major recruiting services as the top lacrosse prospect west of the Mississippi. He has signed to play for the legendary program at John Hopkins University. Henderson, who lost her right leg above her knee after failed experimental chemotherapy treatments for a very rare cancer tumor called Synovial Sarcoma, holds the world record in Paralympic level pole vault. In 2012, she was the 200-meter national champion and earned a silver medal in the 100-meter sprint. Just before her senior year at the University of Denver where she was a Pioneer cheerleader, Henderson was volunteering for the Amputee Coalition of America’s Youth Camp when she was introduced to running legs and Paralympic track. She is now training for a spot on the 2013 World Championships team and a spot in the 2016 Summer Paralympic games in Rio. Since its inception in 1965, the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame has inducted 222 individuals prior to Tuesday’s selection meeting for the Class of 2013. The first class of inductees featured Earl “Dutch” Clark, Jack Dempsey and former Supreme Court justice Byron “Whizzer” White.