EUGENE, Ore. – Sophomore Kaitlyn Beans, a women's triple jumper for the University of South Alabama, earned honorable mention All-America distinction at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Saturday at Hayward Field. 

Beans posted a mark of 12.58m — just 0.04m from second-team All-America honors — on the second of three attempts to place 17th. Her event concludes competition for South Alabama on the final day of the championships. 

"Kaitlyn overcame a lot of adversity this outdoor season," Jaguar head coach Paul Brueske said. "She was not able to train properly due to an injury that lasted most of the season, which limited what she could do during training."  

This performance parallels the results from last year's NCAA Championships, as she placed 17th after recording a jump of 12.67m. The Montgomery, Ala., resident stills holds the school record (13.19m), which she set at the 2014 Sun Belt Conference Championships.

"The fact that she was still able to qualify for the NCAAs despite the setbacks shows what an outstanding athlete she is," coach Brueske added. "She is still young and I think she will be even better next year."  
The Jags had one first-team All-American (junior Renaldo Frechou) and two honorable mention All-Americans (Beans and junior Jan-Louw Kotze) at this year's national meet.

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