Elite Upperclassmen Make Up Bowerman Preseason Women’s Watch List
January 13, 2011 Share
NEW ORLEANS – A full slate of upperclassmen are represented in the preseason women’s watch list for The Bowerman, the award’s women’s watch committee announced Thursday. The three finalists for collegiate track & field’s top award in 2010 were seniors, and, over the next several months, three different names will come to the forefront, showing themselves as the nation’s elite.
Of the ten final candidates for the award in 2010, only two – Semoy Hackett and Brianne Theisen – return for the initial watch list of the year. In what should be a very interesting year in many event areas, the sprints are seemingly the most intriguing as five of the ten on the watch are sprinters.
THE BOWERMAN OFFICIAL WATCH LIST, PRESEASON 2011 WOMEN
(updated January 13, 2011, listed in alphabetical order)
| NAME |
YEAR |
SCHOOL |
EVENTS |
HOMETOWN |
|
Joanna Atkins |
SR |
Auburn |
Sprints |
Stone Mountain, Ga. |
|
Jessica Beard |
SR |
Texas A&M |
Sprints |
Euclid, Ohio |
|
Ti’erra Brown |
JR |
Miami (Fla.) |
Hurdles |
Hampton, Va. |
|
Semoy Hackett |
JR |
LSU |
Sprints |
Scarborough, Trinidad & Tobago |
|
Amber Kaufman |
SR |
Hawai’i |
Jumps |
San Jose, Calif. |
|
Gabby Mayo |
JR |
Texas A&M |
Sprints/Hurdles |
Raleigh, N.C. |
|
Sheila Reid |
JR |
Villanova |
Distance |
Newmarket, Ont. |
|
Jeneba Tarmoh |
JR |
Texas A&M |
Sprints |
San Jose, Calif. |
|
Brianne Theisen |
SR |
Oregon |
Combined Events |
Humboldt, Sask. |
|
Kim Williams |
SR |
Florida State |
Jumps |
Kingston, Jamaica |
Joanna Atkins, Auburn
Senior, Sprints, Stone Mountain, Ga. (Stephenson HS)
Atkins was the 2009 NCAA outdoor champion in the 400-meter dash where she ran a personal best 50.39, a time that stood as a top-12 time in the world for the year. In the 2010 season, Atkins finished fourth indoors and third outdoors in respective NCAA Championships at 400 meters, was SEC outdoor champion in the event, and also scored in the NCAA outdoor meet with Auburn’s 4×100 and 4×400 relay squads.
Jessica Beard, Texas A&M
Senior, Sprints, Euclid, Ohio (Euclid HS)
Beard, who mainly specializes in the 200 and 400 meters, helped the Aggies to a second-straight NCAA team title outdoors in scoring second-place national finishes in the 400 as anchor of the squad’s 4×400. Beard accumulated four Big 12 titles in 2010 and an all-time collegiate best as a member of the Aggie 4×200 that clocked 1:29.42 at the Penn Relays. Beard’s star has shined the brightest on the international stage as she lays claim to four world-championship medals. Most notably, Beard was the third leg of Team USA’s 4×400-meter relay squad that won gold at the 2009 IAAF World Championships in Berlin. Beard has also been on two gold-medaling IAAF World Junior Championship 4×400 teams to go with a silver medal won individually in the 400 in 2008.
Ti’erra Brown, Miami (Fla.)
Junior, Hurdles, Hampton, Va. (Hampton HS)
Queen Harrison, 2010 women’s winner of The Bowerman, was the first female in NCAA Division I history to sweep national tiles in both the 100- and 400-meter hurdles. Brown could be the early favorite to be the second. Only Harrison, also an ACC foe, stood in Brown’s way for both titles last year as the then-sophomore was national runner-up in both events last year. Brown sent a call to action after running a then-world leading 54.74 in the NCAA’s 400 hurdle quarterfinals – the time would stand as the 13th best in the world in 2010. Over the summer, Brown, along with a NACAC title, would win each round on the way to a USATF 400-meter hurdle title where she put more than a full second ahead of the rest of the field in the final.
Semoy Hackett, LSU
Sprints, Scarborough, Trinidad & Tobago (Bishop’s HS/Lincoln (Mo.))
In 2010, Hackett won five NCAA Division II titles, set three championship records, and added an all-time Division II best in the 200 with Lincoln University of Missouri. It was quite a year for the Caribbean native. And, with a move to Division I with the transfer to LSU, the stage lights are now a little brighter. At the NCAA DII outdoor meet, Hackett took titles in the 100, 200, and 4×100, all for the second-straight year. In the 200, she ran a championships-meet record and an all-time division best 22.75 in the final to break a 17-year-old standard. The time also stood as the third-best among all collegians in 2010, trailing only 2009 Bowerman finalist Porscha Lucas and current watchlister Jeneba Tarmoh.
Amber Kaufman, Hawai’i
Senior, Jumps, San Jose, Calif. (Branham HS)
Kaufman became Hawai’i’s first national track & field champion in 26 years in winning the high jump at the 2010 NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene. Kaufman was the only to clear 6-1¼ (1.86m) at the national meet to clinch the title. Kaufman was second at the NCAA indoor meet and cleared a season-best 6-3¼ (1.91m) once in each indoor and outdoor seasons. Kaufman’s all-time best is a 6-4 (1.93m) clearance claimed in winning the WAC title in 2009.
Gabby Mayo, Texas A&M
Junior, Sprints/Hurdles, Raleigh, N.C. (Southeast HS)
Mayo is a multi-dimensional athlete, having claimed conference titles and national acclaim in both the short sprints and high hurdles. Last year, Mayo swept Big 12 indoor titles in the 60 dash and 60 hurdles for the second straight year and finished second and fifth, respectively, in those events at the NCAA meet. Outdoors, Mayo was an NCAA qualifier in the 100, 100 hurdles, and in 4×100. However, upon arriving to Eugene for the national finals, Mayo suffered an injury to her quad muscle resulting in her withdrawal. In 2009, she helped A&M claim a collegiate record in the 4×100 (42.36) en route to an NCAA title.
Sheila Reid, Villanova
Junior, Distance, Newmarket, Ontario
Reid is coming off the fall cross country season with individual and team NCAA titles. Reid led the Wildcats to a second-straight NCAA cross country crown with her own national individual title, becoming the first since 1994 to win the individual NCAA title while leading their team to victory. On the track in 2010, Reid finished third in the 3000 at the national indoor meet and followed with a fourth-place showing in the 1500 at the NCAA outdoor meet. Indoors, Reid won Big East titles in the 1000 and mile and added a conference crown in the 800 outdoors.
Jeneba Tarmoh, Texas A&M
Junior, Sprints, San Jose, Calif. (Mt. Pleasant HS/Tennessee)
Tarmoh is another of a number of talented sprinters to watch in 2011. Tarmoh was a top-three finisher at the NCAA indoor meet at 60 meters and at the NCAA outdoor meet in the 100 and 200 in 2010. In addition, Tarmoh led off the NCAA champ Aggie 4×100 squad most of the season in 2010 and was a member of the 4×200 team that set a new collegiate record at the Penn Relays. In addition, Tarmoh swept 100 and 200 titles at the Big 12 Outdoor Championships in May, was a USATF finalist in the 100 in June, and won the NACAC 100-meter title in July. Tarmoh is a three-time international medalist which includes a 100-meter gold earned at the IAAF World Junior Championships in 2008.
Brianne Theisen, Oregon
Senior, Combined Events, Humboldt, Saskatchewan (Humboldt Collegiate Institute)
Theisen won the NCAA heptathlon title for second-straight time in 2010, topping the field by over 400 points for a personal-best and school-record score of 6,094. In addition to also winning the NCAA pentathlon crown indoors, Theisen would lead off the Oregon 4×400-meter squad to a NCAA title last year. Theisen’s all-time best pentathlon score of 4,396, set in 2010, sits as the fourth best among collegians all-time. Theisen has twice won the Pac-10 heptathlon crown, and, in 2009, Theisen was 15th in the same event at the IAAF World Championships.
Kim Williams, Florida State
Senior, Jumps, Kingston, Jamaica (Vere Technical HS)
Williams made quite a mark during the 2010 indoor season in the triple jump. At the NCAA Championships, Williams won her second-consecutive title in the event and could become only the second (Yvette Bates, USC, 1986-88) to win a third with a national crown this March. In winning the ACC indoor crown for a third time, her best leap of 46-8¼ (14.24m) placed her just two centimeters shy of the collegiate record of 46-9 (14.25m). Overall, Williams has won eight ACC crowns and four NCAA titles, which included triple jump indoor-outdoor sweeps in 2009 and a long jump-triple jump outdoor sweep in the same year.
The Bowerman Advisory Board appointed four of its members to comprise The Bowerman Women’s Watch Committee and another four of its members to make up The Bowerman Men’s Watch Committee. The committee will release their next women’s update on Thursday, February 11. The three men and three women finalists will be named late June.
For more information on The Bowerman, the award, the magnificent trophy, and Bill Bowerman himself, visit TheBowerman.org. Keep up with Bowerman candidates on the USTFCCCA’s weekly results page (http://www.ustfccca.org/weekly-results) and by following the organization’s twitter feed twitter.com/TheBowerman and Facebook page facebook.com/TheBowerman.
ALSO RECEIVING MENTION
|
NAME |
YEAR |
SCHOOL |
EVENTS |
HOMETOWN |
|
Marie Louise Asselin |
SR |
West Virginia |
Distance |
Sarnia, Ont. |
|
Sheniqua Ferguson |
SR |
Auburn |
Sprints |
Nassau, Bahamas |
|
Melissa Gergel |
SR |
Oregon |
Pole Vault |
Glenwood, Ill. |
|
Jordan Hasay |
SO |
Oregon |
Sophomore |
Arroyo Grande, Calif. |
|
Liz Lawton |
SR |
Chicago |
Distance |
North Easton, Mass. |
|
Lauryn Newson |
JR |
Oregon |
Jumps |
Richmond, Calif. |
|
Ashton Purvis |
FR |
Miami (Fla.) |
Sprints |
Oakland, Calif. |
|
Karen Shump |
SO |
Oklahoma |
Throws |
Media, Pa. |
|
Neely Spence |
JR |
Shippensburg |
Distance |
Shippensburg, Pa. |
|
Tina Sutej |
JR |
Arkansas |
Pole Vault |
Ljubljana, Slovenia |
Preseason Watch List Announced for The Bowerman 2011 Men’s Award
January 12, 2011 Share
NEW ORLEANS – The Bowerman Men’s Watch Committee in conjunction with the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) gave their first look at the 2011 male contenders for The Bowerman – collegiate track & field’s biggest and best award. With all three finalists from the 2010 season graduating, a fresh new crop will be among those vying for the award over the several months.
The watch list includes three out-right sophomores and 2009 finalist German Fernandez. Washington State’s Jeshua Anderson returns to the watch list for a record ninth time. Anderson, along with 2010 finalists Ashton Eaton and Ryan Whiting, was on the award’s watch lists for each of the updates last year.
THE BOWERMAN OFFICIAL WATCH LIST, PRESEASON 2011 MEN
(updated January 12, 2011, listed in alphabetical order)
| NAME |
YEAR |
SCHOOL |
EVENTS |
HOMETOWN |
|
Jeshua Anderson |
SR |
Washington State |
Hurdles |
Woodland Hills, Calif. |
|
Robby Andrews |
SO |
Virginia |
Distance |
Englishtown, N.J. |
|
Sam Chelanga |
RS SR |
Liberty |
Distance |
Nairobi, Kenya |
|
Charles Clark |
SR (out) |
Florida State |
Sprints |
Virginia Beach, Va. |
|
Jeff Demps |
SO/JR |
Florida |
Sprints |
Winter Garden, Fla. |
|
German Fernandez |
JR/SO |
Oklahoma State |
Distance |
Riverbank, Calif. |
|
Mason Finley |
SO |
Kansas |
Throws |
Salida, Colo. |
|
Walter Henning |
SR |
LSU |
Throws |
Kings Park, N.Y. |
|
Kirani James |
SO |
Alabama |
Sprints |
Gouyave, Grenada |
|
Christian Taylor |
JR |
Florida |
Jumps |
Fayetteville, Ga. |
Jeshua Anderson, Washington State
Senior, Hurdles, Woodland Hills, Calif. (Taft HS)
Anderson, the NCAA 400-meter hurdle champion in 2008 and 2009, was the national runner-up in the same event in 2010. Only once last year was Anderson bested in the 400 hurdles and that was in the national final to South Carolina’s Johnny Dutch. In running a 48.63 for his third-straight Pac-10 title, Anderson recorded the second-best time by a collegian in 2010 and matched UCLA’s Kevin Young as the only to win three straight league crowns in the event.
Robby Andrews, Virginia
Sophomore, Distance, Englishtown, N.J. (Manalapan HS)
In his 2010 freshman campaign as a 800-meter specialist, Andrews was responsible for some of the more thrilling moments of the collegiate track & field season. Shortly after being named ACC Freshman of the Year after notching indoor conference crowns in the 800 and as anchor of the DMR, Andrews would gain quick national attention at the NCAA Indoor Championships. Andrews used a deadly kick to surge from seventh at the 600-meter split to first, nipping 2010 Bowerman finalist Andrew Wheating for the national indoor crown by a hundredth of a second. Andrews would go on to catch Wheating again in anchoring UVa to a 4×800-meter victory at the Penn Relays, but Wheating would take the tape to Andrews’ second at the NCAA outdoor meet. Over the summer, Andrews won bronze at the IAAF World Junior Championships, becoming one of the first two Americans to medal in middle-distance at the world junior games.
Sam Chelanga, Liberty
RS Senior, Distance, Nairobi, Kenya (Bartolimo HS/Fairleigh Dickinson)
Chelanga’s greatest successes in 2010 came at the 10,000-meter distance where he won his first NCAA track & field national title and established a new collegiate record. His NCAA title came by an 18-second margin, the largest margin of victory in the NCAA men’s final since 2002. In addition, Chelanga’s collegiate record time of 27:08.39, set May 1 at the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational, shattered his own collegiate standard by 20 seconds and finished No. 4 in the world for 2010. Chelanga also finished as the NCAA national runner-up in the 5000 meters, both indoors and outdoors. The pair of NCAA 5k finals were the only two individual races Chelanga lost to a collegiate opponent all year, and the setbacks came by a total of just 1.14 seconds. In the fall of 2010, Chelanga won his second-straight NCAA cross country crown.
Charles Clark, Florida State
Senior (outdoor eligibility only), Sprints, Virginia Beach, Va. (Bayside HS)
Clark is an all-around three-time NCAA Champion, garnering a 2009 outdoor title in the 200-meter dash and two relay national titles (2007 4×100, 2009 outdoor 4×400). Clark redshirted the 2010 outdoor season, but added a ninth ACC crown to the case in winning the 2010 league indoor 200-meter crown in a tied collegiate-season best of 20.67.
Jeff Demps, Florida
Sophomore (indoor)/Junior (outdoor), Sprints, Winter Garden, Fla. (South Lake HS)
Demps claimed the indoor 60-meter and outdoor 100-meter crowns in 2010, becoming only the 12th person in NCAA men’s DI history to accomplish the short-sprint sweep. Demps won the 100-meter final in a wind-aided 9.96 in June and set a new Florida record with a 6.56 clocking in the 60-meter national preliminaries in March. Demps added a national crown in anchoring the Gators’ 4×100-meter relay squad and notched SEC crowns with the 100 and 4×100.
German Fernandez, Oklahoma State
Junior (indoor)/Sophomore (outdoor), Distance, Riverbank, Calif. (Riverbank HS)
Fernandez was one of three finalists for The Bowerman his freshman year in 2009, a year in which he set a new collegiate record in the indoor mile (3:55.02) and won the NCAA outdoor 1500-meter crown in a wire-to-wire victory. In 2010, Fernandez succumbed to injury shortly after clocking 7:51.02 over 3000 meters at Washington’s Husky Classic in February and did not race during the outdoor season. Fernandez would run in the Big 12 Indoor Championships in 2010, and qualified for the final, but left the track during that final race. However, Fernandez had a successful cross country season this past fall, finishing eighth at the NCAA Championships, third individually in the NCAA Midwest Regional and second at the Big 12 Championships.
Mason Finley, Kansas
Sophomore, Throws, Salida, Colo. (Buena Vista HS)
Finley staked claim as the next collegiate throwing phenom in 2010 with runner-up showings in the shot put and discus at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, finishing second to only Bowerman finalist Ryan Whiting in both events. Finley also topped highly competitive fields in winning the shot put-discus double at the Big 12 Outdoor Championships.
Walter Henning, LSU
Senior, Throws, Kings Park, N.Y. (St. Anthony’s HS)
Very few dominated their events in 2010 like Walter Henning. The Tiger was 12-for-12 in weight throw and hammer throw competitions during the collegiate seasons and captured NCAA crowns in both events. During the indoor season, Henning was the best among all collegians in recording a weight throw of 78-1 (23.80m), a toss that topped the SEC Championship record and delivered victory by over 11 feet. With an NCAA hammer crown, captured on his final throw, Henning became the first to sweep the national weight-hammer crowns since 2006.
Kirani James, Alabama
Sophomore, Sprints, Gouyave, Grenada
At just 17 years old, James won the NCAA 400-meter crown in 2010 with a clocking of 45.05. And, during the entire outdoor season, “all he did was win”. It started with a 400-meter title in the CARIFTA Games in April, followed by an SEC crown with a personal-best 45.01. Following the NCAAs, in July, he would win the IAAF World Junior title in the same event. James won every race in every round in which he participated in 2010 with the lone exception being the NCAA Indoor Championship final where he finished runner-up to Georgia’s Torrin Lawrence.
Christian Taylor, Florida
Junior, Jumps, Fayetteville, Ga. (Sandy Creek HS)
Taylor won the NCAA indoor-outdoor double in the triple jump in 2010, becoming the first to accomplish the feat since LSU’s Walter Davis in 2001 and 2002. The indoor crown was his second-straight and, a third possible this March, would equal Arkansas’ three-timers Michael Conley (1983-85), Erick Walder (1992-94), and Robert Howard (1996-98). Taylor swept SEC triple jump crowns with the indoor version again being a second-straight. Taylor was also the NCAA runner-up indoors with the long jump and was the USATF outdoor runner-up in the triple jump. In addition, Taylor is also a member of the Gators’ 4×400 relay team and finished third with the group at the NCAA outdoor meet.
The Bowerman Advisory Board appointed four of its members to comprise The Bowerman Men’s Watch Committee and another four of its members to make up The Bowerman Women’s Watch Committee. The committee will release their next men’s update on Tuesday, February 9. The three men and three women finalists will be named late June.
For more information on The Bowerman, the award, the magnificent trophy, and Bill Bowerman himself, visit TheBowerman.org. Keep up with Bowerman candidates on the USTFCCCA’s weekly results page (http://www.ustfccca.org/weekly-results) and by following the organization’s twitter feed twitter.com/TheBowerman and Facebook page facebook.com/TheBowerman.
ALSO RECEIVING MENTION
|
NAME |
YEAR |
SCHOOL |
EVENTS |
HOMETOWN |
|
Will Claye |
SO |
Florida |
Jumps |
Phoenix, Ariz. |
|
Derek Drouin |
JR |
Indiana |
Jumps |
Corunna, Ontario |
|
Leford Green |
JR |
Johnson C. Smith |
Sprints |
St. Catherine, Jamaica |
|
Torrin Lawrence |
JR |
Georgia |
Sprints |
Jacksonville, Fla. |
|
Josh Scott |
SR |
Saint Augustine’s |
Sprints |
Winter Haven, Fla. |
|
Dorian Ulrey |
SR |
Arkansas |
Distance |
Port Byron, Ill. |