Preseason Bowerman Watch List
Preseason Bowerman Watch List
Men’s 2014 Preseason Watch List for The Bowerman Announced
January 8, 2014
NEW ORLEANS – With the men’s The Bowerman Trophy for 2013 having been awarded to Indiana’s Derek Drouin less than a month ago, the time has come to look forward to the 2014 collegiate track & field season with the unveiling of Wednesday’s Men’s Preseason Watch List.
PHOTO GALLERY: Preseason Men’s Watch List (via Image of Sport)
While Drouin has exhausted his collegiate eligibility, two of his fellow 2013 finalists for collegiate track & field’s equivalent to college football’s Heisman Trophy — Arizona’s Lawi Lalang and Julian Wruck of UCLA — headline the first edition of the 2014 Men’s Watch List. The Women’s Preseason Watch List will be announced Thursday.
Semifinalists from 2013 who start out 2014 on the Watch List include Texas’ Sam Crouser and Johannes Hock; Texas A&M’s Wayne Davis II; Florida’s Marquis Dendy; and Mississippi’s Sam Kendricks. Though Davis and Kendricks were both semifinalists last season, they are each making their first Watch List appearance.
Texas A&M and Florida join Texas as schools with two representatives on the list as the Aggies’ Deon Lendore and the Gators’ Arman Hall — both of whom specialize at 400 meters — also made the list. Oregon’s Mike Berry also received votes, foreshadowing the potential of a very competitive quarter-mile competition this year.
Sticking with the Texas theme, UTEP’s Anthony Rotich makes his first career appearance to round out the Watch List, giving the state of Texas five members of the preseason list. He is the first man from UTEP to appear on the list.
The Bowerman Men’s Watch List – Preseason 2014
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The Watch List is determined by the Men’s Watch List Committee, which is made up of four individuals. Each of the four submit a rank-ordered top 10 list (vote totals will not be disclosed) and the 10 student-athletes who garner the most vote-points are included on the Watch List. Student-athletes who received votes but did not make the top 10 are also listed.
Lalang and Wruck will both look to join the lone all-time repeat men’s finalist, Ashton Eaton of Oregon, who ultimately claimed The Bowerman Trophy in his second year as a finalist in 2010.
Certainly no stranger to the Watch List, Lalang is on the preseason for the second consecutive season and is the active leader in total men’s Watch List appearances with 17, trailing only Florida’s Jeff Demps (19) all-time. Wruck makes his fifth appearance.
With Dendy and first-timer Hall on the list, Florida bolsters its The Bowerman legacy, which includes an all-time best 59 total Watch List appearances between an all-time best eight individuals. By way of Lalang, Arizona is next on the list with 17 total appearances.
Total program appearances is equivalent to the sum of all of its student-athletes individual appearances.
Texas now has 12 total Watch List appearances, tied for seventh-most in men’s history with Florida State. In-state rival Texas A&M has now had six different student-athletes — second only to Florida’s eight — appear nine total times.
By conference, the SEC boasts five of the ten Watch Listers to boost its total to 107 all-time appearances. The Pac-12 is next with 72 with the inclusion of Wruck and Lalang, and the Big 12 is boosted by Crouser and Hock to 53. Conference USA has now appeared four total times.
Last season, both eventual winner Drouin and Lalang appeared on the Preseason Watch List, but only one other semifinalist, Kansas State’s Erik Kynard, ultimately became a semifinalist at season’s end.
The first regular-season edition of the Men’s Watch List for The Bowerman will be released Wednesday, February 5.
Preseason Men’s Watch List Biographies |
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Junior
Boring, Ore. |
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Senior
Raleigh, N.C. |
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Junior
Middletown, Del. |
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Sophomore
Pembroke Pines,Fla. |
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Sophomore Cologne, Germany Hanns Seidel Gymnasium |
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Junior
Oxford, Miss. |
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Senior
Eldoret, Kenya |
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Junior
Arima, Trinidad and Tobago |
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Junior
Nairobi, Kenya |
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Senior
Brisbane, Queensland (Australia) |
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ABOUT THE BOWERMAN
The Bowerman, which debuted in 2009, is presented annually by the USTFCCCA to the most outstanding male and female collegiate track & field athletes in the nation.
Indiana’s Derek Drouin and Clemson’s Brianna Rollins are the reigning winners of The Bowerman, which is named for legendary Oregon track & field and cross country coach Bill Bowerman. In addition to their collegiate achievements, Rollins is the reigning World Champion in the 100 meter hurdles — an event for which she also holds the American Record — while Drouin has won bronze medals at both the 2012 Olympics and 2013 IAAF World Championships.
Past winners include Olympic gold medalist, World Champion and decathlon world-record holder Ashton Eaton (2010), 10,000-meter Olympic silver medalist Galen Rupp (2009), and 2011 IAAF World Champion at 1500 meters, Jenny Simpson (2009).
In total, the winners from the award’s first four years have won three Olympic Medals, three World Championships and eight World Championships medals. When considering finalists for the award, 13 individuals have earned a combined six Olympic medals, four World Championships and 17 World Championships medals.
Bowerman served the sport of track and field in numerous ways. His leadership in the USTFCCCA’s predecessor organization, the National Collegiate Track Coaches Association, and his contributions to NCAA track and field and the running community as a whole are among his many lasting legacies.
For more information on The Bowerman, the award, the trophy and Bill Bowerman himself, visit TheBowerman.org.
ABOUT THE USTFCCCA
The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) is a non-profit professional organization representing cross country and track & field coaches of all levels. The organization represents over 8,000 coaching members encompassing 94% of all NCAA track & field programs (DI, DII, and DIII) and includes members representing the NAIA as well as a number of state high school coaches associations. The USTFCCCA serves as an advocate for cross country and track & field coaches, providing a leadership structure to assist the needs of a diverse membership, serving as a lobbyist for coaches’ interests, and working as a liaison between the various stakeholders in the sports of cross country and track & field.