TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A southeast Kansas man faces sentencing in January for manslaughter in the death of the head of the Washburn University art department when she was hit by a car while riding her bicycle.

Todd Kidwell, of Chanute, pleaded guilty Monday for the June 2015 death of 60-year-old Glenda Taylor. She was hit while participating in an amateur time trial on a rural Crawford County road.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that before the plea deal, Kidwell was charged with second-degree murder.

Kidwell’s attorneys had contended that the accident occurred when Kidwell swerved to the left to avoid a head-on collision with another truck at the same time that Taylor veered to her left.

Testimony at an earlier hearing indicated Taylor’s body was thrown 169 feet after she was struck.