The Bowerman: 2023 Men’s Mid-Outdoor Watch List

NEW ORLEANS – The race for The Bowerman is still wide-open.

It seems like a new male athlete each week turns in an incredible mark. That leaves The Bowerman Watch List Committee no choice but to consider them for the next installment. In total, 20 different men have appeared on the Watch List so far this season.

Two new faces joined a returning eight from the previous iteration to make up the ten athletes on the Men’s Mid-Outdoor Watch List for The Bowerman: Mykolas Alekna of California, Drew Bosley of Northern Arizona, Kyle Garland of Georgia, Elija Godwin of Georgia, Sondre Guttormsen of Princeton, Jaydon Hibbert of Arkansas, Dylan Jacobs of Tennessee, Terrence Jones of Texas Tech, Ayden Owens-Delerme of Arkansas and Keysahawn Strachan of Auburn.

The Bowerman – collegiate track & field’s highest honor – will be awarded in December at the USTFCCCA Convention in Denver, Colorado. Only marks from the 2023 indoor or outdoor collegiate track & field seasons are to be considered for the award.

Alekna, who hails from Vilnius, Lithuania, made his long-awaited season debut in the discus, an event in which he owns the collegiate record. The California standout wasted no time in leaving his mark on the all-time chart once again. Alekna has competed twice this season and notched three top-5 marks, giving him each of the top-5 in collegiate history. His best effort came back on April 8 when he flung the disc 68.39m (224-5) for the second-best, all-time performance.

Bosley, who hails from Thiensville, Wisconsin, parlayed a record-breaking indoor season into strong marks outdoors. The Northern Arizona standout clocked a 10,000-meter PR of 28:18.02 earlier this month at the Stanford Invitational, which came two weeks after he went 13:37.77 over 5000 meters at the GCU Invitational. Bosley set the collegiate record in the 3000 meters indoors with his 7:36.42 PR and moved up to No. 6 on the all-time chart in the 5000 meters with his 13:13.26 PR. He scored in both events at the NCAA Indoor Championships.

Garland, who hails from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, continues to showcase his record-breaking brilliance in the combined events. Despite not finishing the decathlon at the Mt. SAC Relays this past weekend, Garland PR’d in 100 meters and shot put, the latter of which he launched the orb farther than the recognized all-time collegiate decathlon best at 16.77m (55-0¼). Let’s not forget what Garland accomplished indoors: obliterating the collegiate record in the heptathlon and nearly equaling the world record in the process with his 6639-point score.

Godwin, who hails from Covington, Georgia, competed seven times this outdoor season thus far, including once in his signature 400 meters. He finished sixth in the one-lapper at the Mt. SAC Relays in 45.64 and led off the winning 4×400 relay. Godwin entered the outdoor season fresh off an indoor campaign in which he captured the NCAA title in the 400 with a 44.75 clocking that equaled his PR from February that made him the fifth-best performer in collegiate history.

Guttormsen, who hails from Ski, Norway, vaulted into collegiate history this year. Indoors, the Princeton standout tied the collegiate record in the pole vault at 6.00m (19-8¼) to win the NCAA title in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Guttormsen added several other all-time clearances during the indoor season and climbed the indoor chart with each effort. He recently opened the outdoor season with a 5.81m (19-0¾) topper at the Larry Ellis Invitational. 

Hibbert, who hails from Kingston, Jamaica, has yet to open his outdoor season against collegiate competition, but if what he did indoors is any indication, we’re in for a treat. The Arkansas star made three phases look easy indoors and annihilated the collegiate record in the triple jump. He won the NCAA title with a majestic 17.54m (57-6½) effort, which dwarfed the previous all-time best of 17.40m (57-1) that stood since 1985. Hibbert’s indoor best also equaled the No. 2 mark on the absolute collegiate list – that counts marks that occurred both indoors and outdoors.

Jacobs, who hails from Orland Park, Illinois, recently competed in his first 10,000-meter run on the track since winning the NCAA title last year. The Tennessee standout PR’d in 28:01.53 to top a strong field that included several All-Americans from cross country and the indoor season. It wasn’t too long ago that Jacobs captured another NCAA title – this time in the indoor 5000 – and capped a brilliant campaign in which he narrowly missed the collegiate record in the 3000 at 7:36.89 and moved up to No. 3 in collegiate history in the 5000 at 13:11.01.

Jones, who hails from Freeport, Bahamas, truly hit his stride in the sprints since making his 2023 debut at the Big 12 Indoor Championships. The Texas Tech sprinter went sub-6.50 three times in the 60 meters during the indoor season, including two marks of 6.46 that equaled the second-fastest performance in collegiate history (Jones won the NCAA title with his last). Then outdoors, Jones went 9.91 at the Tom Jones Memorial this past weekend to equal the seventh-fastest performer in collegiate history and PR’d in the 200 meters at 20.05 back in March.

Owens-Delerme, who hails from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, made his presence felt in a big way during the indoor season. He surpassed the collegiate record in the heptathlon with his 6518-point, runner-up effort at the NCAA DI Indoor Championships. Owens-Delerme, a finalist for The Bowerman in 2022, qualified for the meet with his 6237-point winner at the SEC Indoor Championships that is now No. 8 on the all-time chart. The Arkansas star also helped his team capture 4×400 relay crown at the NCAA Championships with a 46.55 split on the third leg.

Strachan, who hails from Nassau, Bahamas, launched himself into the collegiate record book in the javelin at the Texas Relays. The Auburn thrower chucked the implement 84.27m (276-6) to become the fourth-best performer in collegiate history. That is also the farthest throw by a collegiate freshman, dwarfing the previous best of 82.64m (271-2) set by Anderson Peters.

Six athletes received votes from The Bowerman Watch List Committee, but not enough to land on this edition of the Watch List: Sean Burrell of LSU, Cameron Crump of Mississippi State, Branson Ellis of Stephen F. Austin, Jordan Geist of Arizona, Fouad Messaoudi of Oklahoma State and Tarsis Orogot of Alabama.

The next Watch List will be released on May 4.