Arkansas' Jaydon Hibbert and Texas' Julien Alfred win The Bowerman Award...
AURORA, Colorado--Triple jumper Jaydon Hibbert (photo courtesy Arkansas Athletics) of the University of Arkansas and Julien Alfred of the University of Texas were named as the winners of The Bowerman Award, presented to the country's top collegiate track and field athlete Thursday night, at a ceremony at the Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center outside Denver Thursday evening as part of the USTFCCCA convention.
The Bowerman Award is presented to the most outstanding collegiate male and female athlete of the 2023 season, and is the sport's equivalent to football's Heisman Trophy and basketball's Wooden Award.
Hibbert, the freshman from Jamaica, set both the collegiate indoor and outdoor records in the triple jump, and won both the NCAA championships in the events. He also broke a decades old collegiate and world U20 records undercover and outdoors while finishing the year as the world leader outdoors at 58-7.5 (17.87m), set at the Southeast Conference championships in Baton Rouge.
Hibbert is the third freshman overall to win The Bowerman as Sha’Carri Richardson (LSU, 2019) and Athing Mu (Texas A&M, 2021) were previous female winners from a total of three freshmen finalist for the women’s award, which included Sydney McLaughlin (Kentucky, 2018).
The 18-year-old phenom topped a talented group of finalists that also included record-breaking combined event specialists Kyle Garland of Georgia and Leo Neugebauer of Texas.
An amazing stat for Hibbert was that he only needed twelve total jumps to win all six of his collegiate competitions in 2023.
At the 2023 World Athletics championships in Budapest, Hibbert jumped 58-1 (17.70m) to produce the farthest distance in World Championships qualifying history. However, an injury during the warm-up for the final prevented Hibbert from making an attempt.
Hibbert is the second male athlete from Arkansas to capture The Bowerman, joining 2016 winner Jarrion Lawson. Arkansas, with Hibbert and Lawson, is now the fourth men’s program with multiple winners.
In the 2023 season, Alfred (photo courtesy Texas Athletics), a native of Saint Lucia, set collegiate records in the 60 and 200 meters indoors, and won the NCAA indoor titles in the 60 and 200 meters, as well as the 100 and 200 meters outdoors on her home track at the University of Texas.
She had one of the most dominant sprint seasons in NCAA history and finished her illustrious career as a Longhorn as a 14-time All-American and a seven-time NCAA champion.
Alfred, who helped the Longhorns win the 2023 NCAA outdoor team title, beat out a group of outstanding athletes that included horizontal jumper Jasmine Moore of the University of Florida, and 400 meter/400 meter hurdler Britton Wilson of the University of Arkansas.
Alfred finished fifth in the finals of the 100 meters, running 10.93, and fourth in the 200 meter finals, clocking 22.05 at the world championships in Budapest.
Alfred is the second winner of The Bowerman from Texas, joining 2016 winner Courtney Okolo. Texas becomes the fourth women's program with multiple winners, joining Oregon, LSU and Texas A&M.
NOTE: The USTFCCCA and the sports information offices of the University of Arkansas and the University of Texas contributed to this report.
Publisher Paul Merca is a national media voter of The Bowerman Award.
paulmerca.blogspot.com may receive a commission for any purchases made from links clicked. Please support this site and our sponsors by clicking on the links. You can also support the site by clicking the yellow "Buy Me A Coffee" link below.
Comments