My 2024 Bowerman Award votes go to...
EDITOR'S NOTE: This was originally posted on December 17th as a paid post for those who are supporting the site via our Buy Me A Coffee page.
The 2024 collegiate track and field season officially comes to a close Thursday evening when the USTFCCCA hands out The Bowerman Award to the nation's most outstanding male and female track and field athlete at the JW Marriott and Ritz Carlton Grande Lakes in Orlando, Florida.
This award, which has been presented since 2010 at the annual USTFCCCA convention, is college track and field's equivalent to football's Heisman Trophy or basketball's Wooden Award.
I've been honored to be a media voter for this award almost from the beginning, and take the task of voting seriously. While the vast majority of meets I attend in person are on the West Coast, I try not to let any conference, regional, or fan/social media/message board biases sway who I pick.
All voting members of The Bowerman, which includes past winners, national and regional media personnel, and track & field statisticians, received their ballots from the USTFCCCA shortly after the NCAA championships, and submitted them in July.
“Athletes’ performances during the NCAA indoor track & field and outdoor track & field seasons shall be considered. An athlete need not have competed in both seasons to be eligible for the award.
“Performances that occur outside the NCAA seasons of indoor track & field and outdoor track & field should not be considered. The performance window for the purposes of The Bowerman runs from December 1 of the preceding year through the respective division’s NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in the year in which the award is given.”
In the interest of transparency, I've used my platform on this site to reveal my selections, and the picks for the 2024 season are no different. I've taken a photo of my ballot (above) and posted it as well.
I attended both the NCAA Division I indoor and outdoor championships for the second year in a row in Boston and Eugene and saw all six finalists compete. Historically, I've only been able to attend the outdoor championships.
Here's my selections and why I picked them:
MEN
In the 2023 edition of The Bowerman, I went with Texas decathlete Leo Neugebauer (Paul Merca photo).
Neugebauer broke the collegiate record in the decathlon at the NCAA championships in Austin, scoring 8836 points. The previous collegiate record was held by Georgia's Kyle Garland, who scored 8720 in 2022.
In 2024, the German outdid himself, becoming the seventh man in history to score over 8900 points, tallying 8961 in Eugene.
Included in that ten-event masterclass was decathlon discus world record 57.70m (189-4) and the highest Day 1 and Day 2 totals in collegiate history at 4685 points and 4276 points, respectively. Earlier in the season, he put up 8708 at home at the Texas Relays, the fourth best score in collegiate history behind two of his own, and Garland's 8720 set in 2022.
Neugebauer won the heptathlon at the NCAA indoor championships in Boston, scoring 6347 points.
Neugebauer capped off his summer with a silver medal at the Olympics, scoring 8748 points in Paris.
My second place vote went to Georgia's 400 meter runner Christopher Morales Williams. The Canadian went undefeated at 400 meters in 2024, and won both the NCAA indoor and outdoor crowns at that distance. He ducked under 44.50 three times during the collegiate season, including a 44.05 to win the Southeast Conference title, and 44.47 to win the NCAA outdoors. He also set the world short track (200m) record of 44.49 at the indoor SEC championships.
Hurdler Caleb Dean of Texas Tech, who became the second man in NCAA D1 history to win national titles in the 60 and 400 hurdles, got my third place vote.
During the outdoor season, Dean had three marks under 48.05 in the 400 hurdles, which made him the only athlete in collegiate history to accomplish that feat.
WOMEN
This was quite honestly an easier vote for the women's Bowerman Award, as I went in order with Parker Valby (Paul Merca photo) of Florida, Jaida Ross of Oregon, and Maia Ramsden of Harvard.
Ramsden, Ross and Valby combined for seven NCAA titles, four collegiate records and 24 all-time top-10 performances in the collegiate record books.
Valby won a pair of NCAA doubles: the 3000-5000 indoors and the 5000-10000 outdoors, all in meet records. In both cases, the 5000 also served as a new collegiate record (indoors breaking her own from earlier in the season). Valby added a CR of 30:50.43 in the 10,000 in her debut at the distance.
Ross broke or tied the collegiate record in the shot put three times this spring, first at the Triton Invite in San Diego where she threw 19.71m (64-8) before tying it three weeks later at the Desert Heat Classic in Tucson. The Oregon standout obliterated her PR at the NCAA DI West First Round in Fayetteville, hitting 20.01m (65-7.75) to become the first collegian – and seventh American woman – over 20 meters and 65 feet.
Indoors, she lost twice, both to Colorado State's Mya Lesnar, including the NCAA championships in Boston.
Harvard's Ramsden made Bowerman history by becoming the first athlete from an Ivy League school, regardless of gender, named as a finalist for college track's most prestigious award.
Ramsden won NCAA titles in the mile and 1500 meters, making her the first female athlete to do so since 2010. She moved to No. 2 all-time collegiately on both lists – the indoor mile at 4:24.83 and the outdoor 1500 at 4:02.58 – in addition to the indoor 1500 (4:06.51).
All but Dean competed at the Paris Olympics, after the ballots were sent to the USTFCCCA, with Neugebauer the highest placing man, finishing second in the decathlon, and Ross finishing fourth in the shot put.
NOTE: The USTFCCCA contributed to this report.
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