The Bowerman: 2024 Women’s Pre-NCAA Outdoor Championships Watch List

NEW ORLEANS – For the first time all year, the same ten names repeat on the Women’s Watch List for The Bowerman, which was released on Wednesday as the finale of the collegiate season awaits next week: the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon.

Those returning are JaMeesia Ford of South Carolina, Rachel Glenn of Arkansas, Jasmine Jones of Southern California, McKenzie Long of Ole Miss, Brianna Lyston of LSU, Nickisha Pryce of Arkansas, Maia Ramsden of Harvard, Michaela Rose of LSU, Jaida Ross of Oregon and Parker Valby of Florida.

The Bowerman will be awarded in December at the USTFCCCA Convention in Orlando, Florida.

Ford, who hails from Fayetteville, North Carolina, rates No. 2 this year in the 200 at 22.11, which places her No. 9 all-time among collegians. She’s part of two South Carolina record-setting relays (42.46 in the 4×100 and 3:25.02 in the 4×400, making the Gamecocks the Nos. 8 and 10 program all-time, respectively). She has multiple sub-50 splits this year, including the fastest by a collegian this year at 49.38. In the winter, she was undefeated at all distances and won the 200 meters at the NCAA Indoor Championships in 22.34 to become No. 7 collegian all-time indoors, registered two quick 300s (35.83 is No. 2 all-time collegiately and she also ran a 36.00 that rates as No. 5 performance all-time) and anchored two of the three fastest 4x400s indoors, leading the Gamecocks to victories at the NCAA and SEC Indoor Championships (the latter with a split of 49.80). This is her seventh Watch List appearance.

Glenn, who hails from Long Beach, California, is entered in track and field events. She clocked her first sub-54 time in the 400 hurdles with a 53.94 at the West First Round – strengthening her position of No. 8 collegian all-time – and sits No. 3 on the outdoor seasonal high jump list at 1.92m (6-3½). She also has split 50.88 in the 4×400. In the winter she won the NCAA Indoor high jump and equaled the CR of 2.00m (6-6¾) after a busy SEC Indoor Championships, in which she finished second in the high jump at 1.94m (6-4¼) in addition to taking seventh in the 60 hurdles (8.15, just off her PR 8.14), running the 200 prelims (PR 23.03) and contributing a 51.46 split on the second leg of the Razorbacks’ runner-up 4×400 relay. This is her fifth Watch List appearance.

Jones, who hails from Atlanta, Georgia, is qualified for both hurdle races. She’s the national leader in the 400 hurdles at 53.87 – No. 7 all-time collegiately – from winning the Pac-12 Championships and lowered her all-conditions PR in the 100 hurdles to 12.58w at the West First Round. She was undefeated by collegians in the indoor 60 hurdles, topped by winning the NCAA Indoor Championships in 7.77 to become No. 3 on the all-time collegiate over a field that had two others among the top-6 all-time collegiately. That time of 7.77 shaved a hundredth off the 7.78 she clocked as runner-up in the USATF Indoor Championships that is now the No. =7 performance all-time by a collegian. This is her sixth appearance on the Watch List.

Long, who hails from Ironton, Ohio, was the fastest sprinter in the East First Round with times of 10.92 in the 100 and 22.10 in the 200. That 100 time was a legal-wind PR that puts her at No. =11 on the all-time collegiate list, while the 200 mark is second this year only to her own 22.03, which places her No. 5 all-time collegiately. She also runs the backstretch leg for the Rebels’ 4×100 squad (42.47, No. 9 program all-time). Indoors she was runner-up in the NCAA 200 at 22.51. Not considered by the Watch List Committee were performances last year – wind-aided times of 10.80 in the 100 and 21.88 in the 200 that rate Nos. 7 and 3, respectively, on the all-time, all-conditions list. This is her second appearance on the Watch List.

Lyston, who hails from Portmore, Jamaica, also advanced in both sprints from the East First Round, coming off a victory in the 100 at the SEC Championships in a PR 10.91 to move to No. 9 all-time collegiately. Her PR in the 200 is 22.31, and she leads off LSU’s 4×100 team (42.49). Earlier in the spring she clocked a wind-aided 10.84w in the 100. She was undefeated indoors in the 60, culminating with the NCAA Indoor title in 7.03 to become No. 2 collegian all-time behind only 2023 The Bowerman winner Julien Alfred. She had three other sub-7.10 times – 7.07 twice (one that made her previously No. =4 all-time collegiately) and a 7.08 to win the SEC Indoor Championships. This is her seventh Watch List appearance.

Pryce, who hails from St. Mary, Jamaica, was fastest in the 400 at the West First Round with three Razorback teammates taking the next spots. She leads the 400 list with her SEC victory in 49.32 to become No. 3 collegian all-time in a race that featured four sub-50 collegians for the first time, and she had the fastest split (49.90) when Arkansas broke the 4×400 CR at the West First Round. In the winter, she was runner-up in the 400 at both the SEC Indoor and NCAA Indoor 400 with a best of 50.83 while also clocking an absolute PR of 22.62 in the 200. This is her second Watch List appearance.

Ramsden, who hails from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, prepped for the East First Round in a unique way – racing a PR 4:02.58 in the 1500 at the LA Grand Prix a week earlier. That time is second only collegiately to the 3:59.90 CR set in 2009 by inaugural The Bowerman winner Jenny (Barringer) Simpson. At the East First Round she set a meet record 4:05.65 (No. 4 collegiate performance all-time) and added a PR in the 5000 at 15:29.06. Ramsden was a double-winner in the Ivy League Championships, setting meet records in the 1500 (4:09.29) and 5000 (15:47.23) while winning by margins of 3.23 and 7.91 seconds, respectively. She anchored Harvard’s CR-setting distance medley relay (10:37.55) to victory at the Penn Relays with a 4:21.47 split for 1600 – the fastest ever, indoors or outdoors. Earlier in the spring she put together a 4:07.30/15:44.36 double in less than an hour. During the winter she won the mile at the NCAA Indoor Championships in a meet-record 4:25.13 that was also the No. 3 performance in collegiate history. She was even faster in the Women’s Wanamaker Mile at the Millrose Games, clocking 4:24.83 for the No. 2 performance all-time by a collegian. She also was a finalist in the 1500 meters at the World Indoor Championships, missing the CR by 0.02 seconds with her 4:06.51 in the prelims, and also posted a 3k best of 8:46.84 in December that has her No. 7 on the all-time collegiate list in that event. This is her fifth Watch List appearance.

Rose, who hails from Suffolk, Virginia, added to her collection of sub-2:00 times in the 800 with a 1:59.05 in the East First Round. That’s the No. 4 collegiate performance behind two of her own marks (1:58.37 in April and 1:58.89 to win the SEC Championships) and the CR 1:57.73 set by 2021 The Bowerman winner Athing Mu. Earlier this spring she clocked 1:25.75 in the 600 (an all-time collegiate outdoor best), 4:12.88 in the 1500 and a 50.81 split in the 4×400. Indoors, she set a CR (and world best) in the 600 yards at 1:16.76 before compiling three sub-2 races in the 800 that give her three of the top-5 collegiate performances all-time – her fastest of 1:59.25 to win the SEC Indoor Championships and become No. 2 collegian all-time behind only Mu. Another of those sub-2 clockings earned a runner-up finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships. This is her ninth career Watch List appearance.

Ross, who hails from Medford, Oregon, broke her own CR in the shot put at the West First Round with a heave of 20.01m (65-7¾). That broke a logjam of a pair of puts at 19.71m (64-8) – both by Ross at separate meets in April – as she now dominates the all-time collegiate list with five of the top-8 performance all-time. She also advanced from the West First Round in the discus, an event in which set her PR 59.74m as part of a Pac-12 double. In the winter, she moved to No. 9 all-time collegiately with a best of 18.84m (61-9¾) before earning runner-up honors at the NCAA Indoor Championships. This is her fourth Watch List appearance.

Valby, who hails from Tampa, Florida, advanced in the 5000 and 10,000 from the East First Round, the latter with meet record 32:43.91 in the rain. She won the SEC Championships 5000 by 18.00 seconds in an outdoor PR 15:07.86 to move to No. 4 all-time on the collegiate list. In her only other outdoor race, she chopped 27 seconds off the CR in the 10,000 at 30:50.43 at April’s Bryan Clay Invitational, lapping the entire field at least once. She was also dominant in the winter, winning the 5000 and 3000 meters at the NCAA Indoor Championships in record-setting form. In the 5k, she lowered her own CR to 14:52.79 while she came back the next day to break the meet record in the 3k at 8:51.30 in becoming No. 3 all-time collegiately indoors. Her undefeated season included the No. 2 time in the 5000 at 14:56.11 from December with the first collegiate sub-15 time indoors or outdoors, along with the No. 6 all-time indoor performance in the 3000 at 8:42.29 in winning the SEC Indoor Championships. This is her eighth career Watch List appearance.

Four athletes received votes from The Bowerman Watch List Committee but fell outside the Top 10: Maribel Caicedo of Washington State, Doris Lemngole of Alabama, Hilda Olemomoi of Alabama and Alida van Daalen of Florida.

Semifinalists for The Bowerman will be announced on June 18.