PSU BACK GAINING NATIONAL ATTENTION

Race One of 26 Candidates Competing for 2005 Harlon Hill Trophy FLORENCE, Ala. -- Pittsburg State University junior tailback Germaine Race was announced today (Oct. 31) by the National Harlon Hill Award Committee as one of 26 candidates for the 2005 Harlon Hill Trophy as the NCAA Division II College Football Player of the Year. The list includes six players each from the Southeast, Northeast and Northwest regions and eight from the Southwest region. Players are nominated and voted on by the sports information directors at the 150 NCAA Division II football playing institutions. The 26 initial candidates will be placed on regional ballots and the top two players from eachof the four NCAA regions will advance to the national ballot when regional voting concludes Nov. 14. Race (5-11, 225) currently leads NCAA Division II in scoring and ranks third nationally in rushing. Hes scored 180 points on the year, averaging an amazing 18.0 points per game. The Warrensburg, Mo., native has scored more points to date (cumulative or per game average) than any NCAA player this season. Hes also rushed 212 times for 1,712 yards (8.1 ypc) and 30 TDs on the season, averaging 171.2 yards per game. Race needs four rushing touchdowns to break Ian Smarts (LIU-C.W. Post) NCAA-II single-season rushing touchdown record of 33 set in 2001, and he needs 33 points to surpass David Kircus (Grand Valley State) NCAA-II single-season scoring record of 212 points set in 2002. Race, who set an NCAA-II record by averaging 9.0 yards per carry as a sophomore in 2004, rushed 23 times for 180 yards and two TDs against 16th-ranked Northwest Missouri State University last Saturday (Oct. 29) in just over three quarters of action of the Gorillas 56-35 victory in The Fall Classic at Arrowhead IV. Race logged his ninth straight 100-yard rushing game against NWMSU and his 22nd 100-yard game in his last 25 outings. Additionally, Race has proven himself as a punishing runner. He has compiled 799 yards-after-contact this season, which equates to 47 percent of his cumulative rushing total. He also had a string of 187 carries without a fumble between week two and week 10. Race has fumbled just three times in 212 carries on the season. In the last six games, he has scored 21 touchdowns. Race has a pair of five-TD outings and two four-score games on the year. He has earned MIAA Offensive Player of the Week honors four times: vs. Truman State (Oct. 22) vs. Emporia State (Sept. 24), vs. Missouri Western (Sept. 17) and vs. Fort Hays State (Sept. 3). Race logged his 25th career 100-yard rushing game against NWMSU, as he continued his assault on MIAA career rushing and scoring lists. He has rushed the ball 581 times for 4,907 yards (8.1 ypc) and 73 TDs in 37 career games (132.6 ypg), and hes scored 452 career points, averaging 12.2 points per game. Race became just the eighth player in MIAA history to eclipse 4,000 career rushing yards earlier this season. He currently ranks fourth on the MIAAs all-time rushing chart, trailing only a trio of Harlon Hill Trophy winners (ESUs Brian Shay, 1998; Trumans Jarrett Anderson, 1996; Pitt States Ronald Moore, 1992) on the elite list. The 2005 winner will be announced at the 20th annual Harlon Hill Trophy Presentation Banquet on Friday, Dec. 9 at the Florence Conference Center at 6:30 p.m. This years Hill Trophy Banquet also will include the seventh induction into the Division II Football Hall of Fame. Pitt States Ronald Moore will be one of three inductees into the DII Hall of Fame. Courtesy: PSU Sports Information