Recent Collegians Set To Shine At 2019 Pre Classic

Collegiate track & field fans better have eyes on the Prefontaine Classic.

That’s because the U.S.-based IAAF Diamond League meet will have a familiar feel to it.

QUICK LINK: 2019 Prefontaine Classic Home

By our count, there could be 36 athletes in Stanford, California, who progressed through the collegiate ranks since the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, including three winners of The Bowerman, five current or past finalists for The Bowerman and eight collegiate record holders who are scheduled to compete in those respective events on Sunday at Cobb and Angell Field.

Where else could we start than with those winners of The Bowerman? After all, it is collegiate track & field’s highest honor and given out every December at our annual Convention.

Three of the past four winners will be competing at the Pre Classic: 2018 men’s winner Michael Norman (400 Meters), 2017 men’s winner Christian Coleman (100 Meters) and Raevyn Rogers (800 Meters). The only one missing from the group is 2018 women’s winner Keturah Orji.

There will be a fourth winner of The Bowerman in attendance as well. That’s none other than 2015 women’s winner Jenna Prandini, who will be competing in the 200 Meters.

Norman, the collegiate record holder in both the indoor and outdoor 400, will take on six recent collegians in his signature event, most notably Fred Kerley. It was just last year that Norman took the collegiate outdoor record from Kerley, who was a finalist for The Bowerman in 2017 alongside Coleman and teammate Lindon Victor.

And speaking of Coleman, Norman and the aforementioned Rogers, they are three of the eight collegiate record holders ready to take on the best in the world. The others include Rai Benjamin (400 Meter Hurdles), Mondo Duplantis (indoor & outdoor pole vault), Maggie Ewen (outdoor shot put), Courtney Frerichs (steeplechase) and Sha’Carri Richardson (100 Meters).

Duplantis and Richardson, who both broke those collegiate records this past year and turned professional after their freshman campaign at LSU, are finalists for The Bowerman in 2019, joining Grant Holloway and Divine Oduduru on the men’s side and Janeek Brown and Yanis David on the women’s side, respectively.

If you want to take a closer look at it, Duplantis and Richardson are two of the six current or past finalists for The Bowerman ready to compete. We already mentioned Benjamin, Ewen and Kerley, but what about Blessing Okabare from 2010?

You can watch all of the action from the Pre Classic on NBC beginning at 4 pm ET on Sunday.