Orji & Vaughan Rejoin First Outdoor Bowerman Trophy Women’s Watch List

NEW ORLEANS – Two SEC field-eventers replaced a vaulter and two northern distance runners on the first Watch List for the Bowerman Trophy – collegiate track & field’s highest individual honor – of the 2015 outdoor season.

The Bowerman Watch List Committee announced the list on Thursday afternoon.

Keturah Orji of Georgia and Shelbi Vaughan of Texas A&M both opened their outdoor seasons with nation-leading marks in their events.

Orji exactly matched her mark that got her second at NCAA indoors in the triple jump: she won the Spec Towns Team Invite with a hop, skip, and a jump of 13.77m (45-2¼), which makes her the No. 2 U.S. junior performer ever.

Vaughan won the Texas Relays with a discus throw of 61.48m (201-8). That’s eighty-three centimeters better than what she opened up with at Texas last year, and exactly four meters better than everyone else in the collegiate ranks right now.

That duo replaced Leah O’Connor, Emily Sisson, and Demi Payne on the Watch List. (Two women are replacing three because the last edition of the List featured an irregular 11 women.)

Sandi Morris is the only woman on the Watch List that has broken a collegiate record this outdoor season. The Arkansas pole vaulter cleared a winning height of 4.62m (15-1¾) at the Razorbacks’ home John McDonnelly Invitational. She already cleared 4.66 meters indoors, so expect more updates in this space.

Along with Morris, Vaughan, and Orji, four more women on the WL are the collegiate leaders in their respective events. Remona Burchell, Kendra Harrison, Kyra Jefferson, and Natoya Goule all won their races in blazing fast times at the Florida Relays; all except for Goule hail from the SEC (though she is formerly of LSU).

Burchell, of Alabama, won the 100 in Gainesville in 11.04 seconds into a 2.5 meters per second headwind; Harrison, of Kentucky, won the 400 hurdles there in 55.94; Jefferson, of Florida, won her home 400 in 51.50; and Goule ran the 800 in 2:01.63 to finish as the first collegian in Florida.

Burchell, Harrison, and Goule lead the descending order lists in those events by several tenths of a second, while Jefferson is tied for the collegiate lead in the 400.

Oregon’s Swiss Army knife Jenna Prandini has run the 4×100 twice and long jumped once so far this outdoor season. Her 6.41m (21-0½) long jump is tied for fourth on the collegiate descending order list, while the relay that she and three other Ducks ran in 43.31 is currently the third best in Division I.

Returning Bowerman Trophy Finalist Courtney Okolo of Texas and Kendell Williams of Georgia have competed scarcely thus far outdoors. Neither has hit their primary open event yet. Okolo ran a leg on the nation’s fastest 4×400 meter relay, as the Longhorns ran 3:29.65 to win at the Texas Relays. And Williams threw the javelin at Georgia Tech before missing her home heptathlon with a tooth infection. She’ll be back in the multis at the Drake Relays.

With her tenth appearance, Williams joins English Gardner and Sheila Reid in a three-way tie for the ninth most times making the Watch List.

Everyone on this this list has an NCAA title in their event in the last twelve months except for the precocious Orji.

In the last edition of the List, only Raven Saunders of Southern Illinois received votes but fell short of the top ten. She’s joined in that category today by Demi Payne (Stephen F. Austin), Jeanelle Schepper (South Carolina), Irena Sediva (Virginia Tech), and Emily Sisson (Providence). Payne and Sisson have previously appeared on the list, while this is the first Bowerman consideration for javelin thrower Sediva and high jumper Schepper.

The men’s Watch List was released Wednesday; the next women’s watch list comes out Thursday, May 6.

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.

Oregon’s Laura Roesler and Texas A&M’s Deon Lendore are the reigning winners of The Bowerman, which is named for legendary Oregon track & field and cross country coach Bill Bowerman.

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), 2011 IAAF World Champion at 1500 meters Jenny Simpson (2009), 2013 100-meter hurdles World Champion Brianna Rollins (2013) and 2012 Olympic high jump bronze medalist Derek Drouin (2013).

In total, the winners from the award’s first five years have won three Olympic Medals, two World Championships and six World Championships medals. When considering finalists for the award, 13 individuals have earned a combined seven 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.