My 2025 Bowerman Award votes go to...
EDITOR'S NOTE: This was originally posted on December 15th as a paid post for those supporting the site via our Buy Me A Coffee page.
The USTFCCCA Convention got underway at the Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center in Grapevine, Texas, just outside Dallas on Monday.
The convention, which assembles many of the country's leading high school and college coaches, features numerous topics of conversation for those in the community. For those in the highest levels of coaching, topics like name, image, & likeness, along with scholarship and roster limits, are major points of discussion throughout the week.
The 2025 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.
This award, which has been presented since 2010 at the 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."
In the interest of transparency, I've used my platform on this site to reveal my selections, and the picks for the 2025 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 third year in a row in Virginia Beach 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:
WOMEN:
All of the women's finalists from 2024: winner Parker Valby of Florida, Jaida Ross of Oregon, and Maia Ramsden of Harvard have either graduated or turned pro.
The fan voting, which was held in July, was won by 400 hurdler Savannah Sutherland of Michigan, with distance runners Doris Lemngole of Alabama second and Pamela Kosgei of New Mexico (photo illustration courtesy USTFCCCA) third.
According to the USTFCCCA, more than 27000 votes were cast in 48 hours.
The USTFCCCA membership was identical to the fan voting.
This was honestly one of the hardest selections in all of the years I've been a voter. In fact, I flip-flopped between Sutherland and Kosgei. You could actually make a case for Lemngole to get the Bowerman.
Despite not winning an NCAA indoor title in either the 3000, where she was eleventh, or the 5000, where she placed third, I went with Kosgei (Paul Merca photo).
I thought that her performance outdoors, where she was dominant in the 5000 and 10000, capped by winning the double at the NCAAs in Eugene, was strong enough to overcome her performances indoors.
Showing off her versatility, Kosgei also ran a solo 9:15.93 in the 3000 steeplechase at the Stanford Invitational, winning by nearly 45 seconds. The steeple was ultimately the event in which she competed at in the Tokyo world championships, where she finished tenth in her heat.
Even though the mark for purposes of The Bowerman voting did not count (insufficient number of events to constitute a NCAA legal meet), Kosgei ran 31:02.73 for 10000 at The TEN in California against a predominantly pro field to finish ninth, which was fifteen seconds faster than what her listed TFRRS best was in winning the NCAA 10000 title. It's also the second fastest under any conditions by a collegian.
Sutherland had an undefeated collegiate season in the 400 hurdles, capping her run with an NCAA title, where she ran 52.46, a collegiate record, breaking the previous mark of 52.75 set by Sydney McLaughlin of Kentucky in 2018.
Lemngole's resume during the 2025 collegiate season included breaking the collegiate record in the steeplechase twice, ultimately to 8:58.15 to become the first collegiate sub-nine steepler and crack the all-time top-ten in world history. She went undefeated in every collegiate steeplechase in 2025.
She added an NCAA title indoors, winning the 5000 meters in Virginia Beach, running 15:05.93.
MEN:
Just like the women, all three of The Bowerman finalists from 2024: winner Leo Neugebauer, a decathlete from Texas, sprinter Christopher Morales Williams of Georgia, and 400 hurdler Caleb Dean of Texas Tech, have all graduated or turned pro.
The USTFCCCA membership took sprinter Jordan Anthony of Arkansas second, while the fans took Auburn's high hurdler Ja'Kobe Tharp (photo illustration courtesy USTFCCCA)
The NCAA regional (AKA the first and second round) notwithstanding, Ezekiel went undefeated in the 400 hurdles, going under 48 seconds twice at the Big 12 championships, then twice more at the NCAA championships in Eugene, capped off by his time of 47.49 to win the finals.
All four of his sub 48 marks are among the top ten times in collegiate history, with his NCAA winning time of 47.49 the third fastest behind only Rai Benjamin of USC's 47.02 from 2018, and Dean's 47.23 set last year.
In addition, Ezekiel was a close second in the 400 at the indoor championships, losing out to Seattle resident Will Floyd of Georgia, 45.43 to 45.44.
I thought that his dominance and his sequence of marks, particularly at championship time, made him clearly the winner of The Bowerman.
Jordan Anthony of Arkansas got my second place vote after winning both the 60 indoors and the 100 outdoors. He was dominant at those distances at both the SEC and NCAA championships.
Even in the NCAA first and second rounds, he was dominant, highlighted by a barely wind aided (+2.1) dash of 9.75 to equal the second fastest all-conditions performance in collegiate history and equal to the ninth fastest all-conditions performer in world history.
Even though Ja'Kobe Tharp of Auburn won both the NCAA indoor 60 and outdoor 110 hurdle titles, losing the final of the SEC championships to Kendrick Smallwood of Texas by a 13.13 to 13.15 mark, and not making the finals at the Tom Jones Invitational were the main reasons I only had him third on my ballot.
At the Tokyo world championships, contested long after the ballots were submitted to the USTFCCCA, Tharp finished sixth in the 110 hurdles finals, while Ezekiel, representing Nigeria, ran 47.11, a personal best, to finish fourth in the 400H finals.
All three women's Bowerman finalists competed in Tokyo, led by Kenyan Lemngole's fifth place finish in the finals of the steeple. Sutherland, representing Canada, was fifth in the first round of the 400 hurdles, while Kosgei of Kenya was tenth in her first round heat of the steeplechase.
The Bowerman Award will be announced live on RunnerSpace.com (free) starting with the Red Carpet show at 4:30 pm Pacific/6:30 pm local time, and The Bowerman Presentation show at 5:00 pm Pacific/7:00 pm local time, hosted by Larra Overton, ESPN track and field analyst and former Indiana University distance standout.
NOTE: The USTFCCCA contributed to this report.
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