The Bowerman: Stars Will Shine Over Conference Championships Weekend
There are 20 total athletes on The Bowerman Watch Lists at any given time.
Eleven of them from the Pre-Outdoor Conference Championships Watch Lists will compete at the SEC Outdoor Championships this weekend in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Read that again: 11.
From The USTFCCCA InfoZone: Meets & Results | Records & Lists
From The Bowerman: Most Recent Watch Lists – Men’s | Women’s
Seven of the 11 are on the Women’s Watch List: Talitha Diggs of Florida, Lamara Distin of Texas A&M, Jasmine Moore of Florida, Ackera Nugent of Arkansas, Masai Russell of Kentucky and Britton Wilson of Arkansas. That leaves five men: Kyle Garland of Georgia, Jaydon Hibbert of Arkansas, Dylan Jacobs of Tennessee, Ayden Owens-Delerme of Arkansas and Keyshawn Strachan of Auburn.
We’ll see three head-to-head matchups between the women: one in the 100-meter hurdles, where Russell, the collegiate record-holder at 12.36, squares off against Nugent, who took down Russell’s collegiate record in the 60-meter hurdles to win the NCAA title (Don’t forget about reigning NCAA 100H champion Alia Armstrong of LSU, either); and two featuring Wilson, who already has one collegiate record outdoors in an event that she’ll contest (400 meters against Diggs) and has sights on another (400-meter hurdles, which she’ll face Russell).
Fans hoping to see another combined-event duel between Garland and Owens-Delerme will go home empty-handed – Garland is entered in the decathlon; Owens-Delerme is not – but won’t be left wanting for drama. Garland still needs a qualifying total for the NCAA Championships after a DNF at the Mt. SAC Relays (7600 would assure a spot in Austin). Owens-Delerme will try his hand once again in the 400-meter hurdles. The Arkansas star made his debut in the long hurdles last month at the LSU Invitational and finished runner-up in 50.28.
Multiple athletes from the most recent Watch List releases will also be at the Big 12 Outdoor Championships (Rhasidat Adeleke and Julien Alfred of Texas, along with Terrence Jones of Texas Tech and Fouad Messaoudi of Oklahoma State) as well as the Pac-12 Outdoor Championships (Mykolas Alekna of California, Jordan Geist of Arizona, Jorinde van Klinken of Oregon). Pay close attention to the Pac-12 meet, where both Alekna and van Klinken could get favorable winds at Hilmer Lodge Stadium to launch some massive throws in the discus.
Want another reason to look out for these athletes?
Five of six current collegiate outdoor records were set at conference championships, all by future finalists for The Bowerman — including two winners: 2022 women’s winner Abby Steiner with Kentucky’s 4×400 at the SEC Outdoor Championships (3:21.93); 2019 men’s finalist Mondo Duplantis in the pole vault at the 2019 SEC Outdoor Championships with his 6.00m (19-8¼) clearance; 2018 women’s winner Keturah Orji in the triple jump at the 2018 SEC Outdoor Championships with her 14.62m (47-11¾) effort; 2018 women’s finalist Sydney McLaughlin in the 400H at the 2018 SEC Outdoor Championships with her 52.75 clocking; and 2013 women’s finalist Brigetta Barrett in the high jump at the 2013 Pac-12 Outdoor Championships with her 1.99m (6-6¼) topper.
The next Watch Lists will be released on May 17 and May 18.