The Bowerman: 2023 Fan Vote & USTFCCCA Membership Vote Results

NEW ORLEANS – Collegiate track & field fans and USTFCCCA member coaches made their choices.

Jaydon Hibbert and Julien Alfred won both The Bowerman Fan Vote and a hotly-contested USTFCCCA Membership Vote. Hibbert and Alfred both get two first-place votes toward their overall tally.

More than 35,000 votes were tabulated in The Bowerman Fan Vote over the past 48 hours, marking the third consecutive year with such a turnout.

The order of the Men’s Fan Vote and the USTFCCCA Membership Vote were identical: Hibbert at the top, followed by Leo Neugebauer and Kyle Garland. The Women’s Fan Vote and USTFCCCA Membership Vote both had Alfred at the top, while Jasmine Moore and Britton Wilson switched places between them.

Remember: The Bowerman Fan Vote and USTFCCCA Membership Vote might give finalists a leg up on the others, but it’s just a small portion of the overall tally, which also includes ballots from The Bowerman Advisory Board, each of the past winners of The Bowerman from 2009 to 2022, as well as votes from select media personnel, statisticians and collegiate administrators.

Looking back through the history of The Bowerman Fan Vote, six men’s winners and six women’s winners would capture collegiate track & field’s highest individual honor later that year: Ngoni Makusha (2011), Cam Levins (2012), Deon Lendore (2014), Jarrion Lawson (2016), JuVaughn Harrison (2021) and Trey Cunningham (2022) on the men’s side; Jenny Barringer (2009), Jessica Beard (2011), Laura Roesler (2014), Raevyn Rogers (2017), Sha’Carri Richardson (2019) and Abby Steiner (2022) on the women’s side.

Here is more information about each of those winners from 2023.

Jaydon Hibbert, Arkansas
The Bowerman Fan Vote – Men’s Winner
USTFCCCA Membership Vote – Men’s Winner

Hibbert, who hails from Kingston, Jamaica, is the undisputed King of the Triple Jump in collegiate history. The Arkansas freshman phenom completed the NCAA title sweep with a victory at the NCAA DI Outdoor Championships. Hibbert unified the indoor and outdoor collegiate records with a 17.54m (57-6½) effort indoors to win that NCAA crown, followed by a majestic 17.87m (58-7½) outdoors at the SEC Championships. Prior to Hibbert taking the collegiate scene by storm, both of the collegiate records in the triple jump had stood for more than 35 years. Hibbert also smashed both of those standards by more than five inches (nearly one foot outdoors!). Even more impressive might be the fact that Hibbert only needed 12 jumps all season to achieve all of those feats. Hibbert is the third male athlete from Arkansas to be named a finalist for The Bowerman, joining 2016 award winner Jarrion Lawson and 2022 finalist Ayden Owens-Delerme. Hibbert is the fifth freshman man to be named a finalist and the youngest to be named a finalist in award history.

Julien Alfred, Texas
The Bowerman Fan Vote – Women’s Winner
USTFCCCA Membership Vote – Women’s Winner

Alfred, who hails from Castries, St. Lucia, went four-for-four in national titles, sweeping the 100 and 200 at the NCAA DI Outdoor Track & Field Championships after taking the 60 and 200 at the NCAA DI Indoor Championships. She lowered the CR in the indoor 60 five different times (ultimately to 6.94), producing eight of the top-11 marks in collegiate history. In the indoor 200, her CR 22.01 is second-fastest in world history. Her outdoor season started with four relay wins on her home track at the Texas Relays – three as the leadoff leg in CRs (4×100, 4×200 and sprint medley). Her kickstart led the Longhorn 4×100 squad in lowering the CR three times with a best of 41.55 in prelim duty before winning the NCAA title. In individual events outdoors she registered the fastest all-conditions 100 and 200 marks by a collegian in the 100 (10.72w, twice) and 200 (21.73w), while also clocking wind-legal times of 10.83 and 21.91 in becoming No. 4 and No. 2 all-time, respectively, by a collegian. Alfred is the fourth female athlete from Texas to be named a finalist for The Bowerman, joining 2016 winner Courtney Okolo who was a two-time finalist, 2021 finalist Tara Davis, and 2009 finalist Destinee Hooker.