Abby Steiner & Trey Cunningham win The Bowerman Award...

AURORA, Colorado--Kentucky's Abby Steiner (Paul Merca photo) and Florida State's Trey Cunningham were named as the winners of The Bowerman Award, presented to the country's top collegiate track and field athlete, at a ceremony at the Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center outside Denver Thursday evening as part of the USTFCCCA convention.

Steiner started and ended the year in record fashion: first, taking down one of the oldest in the books when she clocked 35.80 over 300 meters to shatter the 40-year-old mark of 35.83 set by Merlene Ottey of Nebraska; lastly, toting the baton third on Kentucky’s record-setting 4×400 relay team at the NCAA Outdoor Championships with a 48.92 split.

She also broke the collegiate records at the 200 meter distance both indoors and outdoors in winning the NCAA title, running 22.09 undercover, and 21.80 outdoors at Hayward Field in Eugene.

Cunningham won both the NCAA indoor and outdoor titles in the short hurdles, winning the indoor 60 crown in 7.38, and the outdoor 110 hurdles title in 13.00 at Hayward Field. Both marks set are the second fastest in collegiate history behind 2019 Bowerman winner Grant Holloway of Florida.

Steiner is the first winner of The Bowerman from the University of Kentucky, who had two finalists (Keni Harrison in 2015, and Sydney McLaughlin in 2018).

Cunningham is the second winner of The Bowerman from Florida State, joining 2011 winner Ngoni Makusha.

Both were factors for Team USATF at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, with Steiner picking up two relay gold medals in the 4 x 100 and 4 x 400, and Cunningham finishing second in the 110 hurdles.

Florida State now joins the likes of Oregon (five), LSU (three), Texas A&M (three) and Florida (two) as programs with multiple winners of The Bowerman.

The USTFCCCA release is available here.

BATT-DOYLE FINISHES SECOND IN ZATOPEK 10...

In Melbourne, Australia Thursday night, Washington alum Izzi Batt-Doyle finished second in the Zatopek 10, contested at Lakeside Stadium.

The race served as the Australian national championship race at the 10000 meter distance.

The field went out slowly, but action picked up with about 11 laps to go, as eventual winner Leanne Pompeani, who led most of the way, started ramping up the pace, with Batt-Doyle staying within striking distance of the leader.

With about 7 laps to go, it became a three-woman battle between Pompeani, defending national champion Rose Davies, and Batt-Doyle gamely hanging on.

The UW alum fought back with two laps to go to overtake Davies, but could not overcome the gap that Pompeani opened, as she won in a time of 32:20.35, with Batt-Doyle second in 32:26.02, and Davies third in 32:35.53.

Courtesy of Athletics Australia, here is video of the race (start at the 2:08:00 mark; the race ends around the 2:42:00 mark):

The Athletics Australia recap, which includes a link to the results, is available here.

NOTE: The USTFCCCA and Athletics Australia contributed to this report.

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