The three national champs make first-ever appearances on watch list
March 16, 2011
NEW ORLEANS – The Bowerman Men’s Watch Committee in conjunction with the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) announced on Wednesday their third update of the men’s watch list for collegiate track & field’s biggest award – The Bowerman. This update comes following last weekend’s NCAA Indoor Championships and now includes three – Derek Drouin (high jump), Leonard Korir (Iona), and Mookie Salaam (200 meters) – that won national crowns in their respective events.
In addition, NCAA 400-meter champion Demetrius Pinder was added to the “also receiving mention” list for the first time this year.
THE BOWERMAN OFFICIAL WATCH LIST 2011 MEN
(updated March 16, 2011, listed in alphabetical order)
NAME
YEAR
SCHOOL
EVENTS
HOMETOWN
Jeshua Anderson
SR
Washington State
Hurdles
Woodland Hills, Calif.
Sam Chelanga
RS SR
Liberty
Distance
Nairobi, Kenya
Will Claye
JR
Florida
Jumps
Phoenix, Ariz.
Jeff Demps
SO/JR
Florida
Sprints
Winter Garden, Fla.
Derek Drouin (P)
JR
Indiana
Jumps
Corunna, Ontario
Walter Henning
SR
LSU
Throws
Kings Park, N.Y.
Kirani James
SO
Alabama
Sprints
Gouyave, Grenada
Leonard Korir (N)
JR
Iona
Distance
Iten, Kenya
Mookie Salaam (N)
JR
Oklahoma
Sprints
Edmond, Okla.
Christian Taylor
JR
Florida
Jumps
Fayetteville, Ga.
(P) – Promoted from “receiving mention” list this update
(N) – New to either list this update
Jeshua Anderson, Washington State
Senior, Hurdles, Woodland Hills, Calif. (Taft HS)
IN 2011: His indoor season best in the 400-meter dash of 46.93 placed him in the collegiate top 35. The outdoor season is where Anderson is expected to shine when he can compete in his specialty event – the 400-meter hurdles.
Sam Chelanga, Liberty
RS Senior, Distance, Nairobi, Kenya (Bartolimo HS/Fairleigh Dickinson)
IN 2011: At the NCAA Indoor Championships, Chelanga placed runner-up in the 5000 meters to Iona’s Leonard Korir with a 13:27.34 clocking. Chelanga, finished 15th overall at the NCAA meet in the 3000. In his first 5k of the indoor season, Chelanga recorded a then world-leading time of 13:41.35 on his home 200-meter, flat track on January 29. Chelanga notched a would-be collegiate leader of 7:48.24 in the 3000 meters at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix where he finished fourth in a professional-loaded field. In addition, Chelanga tallied a 7:50.92 clocking at 3000 meters in placing fifth overall at the Flotrack Husky Classic. Chelanga added to his tally of Big South Championships with a mile crown (4:16.88) this season.
Will Claye, Florida
Junior, Jumps, Phoenix, Ariz. (Mountain Pointe HS/Oklahoma)
IN 2011: At the NCAA indoor meet, Claye left his best for the last attempt in the triple jump. After five rounds, Claye had the lead at 55-8¼ (16.967m), but teammate and defending champ Christian Taylor staked his claim for the crown on his final attempt with a jump of 55-9 (16.99m). Claye responded with the event’s final salvo with a mark of 56-10 (17.32m) to win the national crown, set a new personal best, land as the all-time fourth-best collegiate performer in the event, and reset the NCAA meet record by a centimeter.
Adding to the national triple jump crown, Claye finished second in the long jump at the NCAA meet with a personal best of 26-4½ (8.04).
Claye landed a mark of 56-4 (17.17m) achieved in finishing runner up to teammate Christian Taylor at the SEC Championships. Claye added a third-place showing in the long jump at the SEC meet, placing behind only Arkansas’ Tarik Batchelor and LSU’s Zedric Thomas – both members of the national top five of the event this year.
Jeff Demps, Florida
Sophomore (indoor)/Junior (outdoor), Sprints, Winter Garden, Fla. (South Lake HS)
IN 2011: Demps claimed his second-straight NCAA indoor 60-meter title with a personal-best run in the finals of 6.53 seconds. Demps is the first back-to-back NCAA indoor short-sprint champ since DaBryan Blanton of Oklahoma in 2004 and 2005.
After opening the season with a 6.57 in winning the Virginia Tech Elite, Demps has four times more clocked sub-6.60 in the 60 meters, including when he won the SEC title in the event for the second-straight year with a 6.55.
Derek Drouin, Indiana
Junior, Jumps, Corunna, Ontario (St. Patrick’s HS)
IN 2011: Drouin, a junior from Corunna, Ontario, won his third NCAA title in the high jump, and his second-straight indoors, clearing a Canadian-record tying 7-7¾ (2.33m). His jump at NCAAs broke the all-time Big Ten record and placed him third all-time indoors collegiately in the event. Drouin is the first back-to-back indoor national champ since USC’s Jesse Williams in 2005 and 2006.
Drouin won his fourth Big Ten high jump crown as well, tying his own Big Ten meet record in the process, en route to Big Ten Field Athlete of the Year and USTFCCCA Great Lakes Region Athlete of the Year honors as well. Drouin cleared 7-5 (2.26m) or higher at four meets during the indoor season. Drouin has also moved into second in the IU record books in the heptathlon this season with a score of 5,407 points and third on the all-time 60-meter hurdles list with a time of 8.00 seconds. Drouin was named the USTFCCCA National Men’s Field Athlete of the Year.
Walter Henning, LSU
Senior, Throws, Kings Park, N.Y. (St. Anthony’s HS)
IN 2011: Henning did not miss in the weight throw the past two years. The LSU strongman has won 11-straight against collegiate competition with the 35-lb. weight – five of which has come from 2011 season, which included his third-straight SEC crown and second-straight NCAA crown. Henning had little trouble defending his title with a meet-best of 72-8½ (22.16m), nearly three feet better than the competition. At the LSU Twilight on Feb. 18, Henning notched his season’s best throw of 76-6¼ (23.32m). Henning’s personal best in the event is 78-1 (23.80m).
Kirani James, Alabama
Sophomore, Sprints, Gouyave, Grenada
IN 2011: Prior to the NCAA Indoor Championships, on every occasion in which he has stepped on the track for the 400 meters during the 2011 indoor season, Kirani James set a new world leader. Starting on Feb. 12 when he ran 45.47 (oversized) to win Notre Dame Meyo Invitational, then on Feb. 26 for the preliminary round of the SEC Championships when he ran 45.37. And, for the trifecta, James, who is only 18, clocked 44.80 in the SEC final to not only set another world record, but it also set a new world junior all-time best. The time places him in the top five of the all-time world indoor list and only Kerron Clement’s (Florida)world record of 44.57 set in 2005 stands as a better all-time collegiate mark.
At the NCAA meet, James tripped and fell shortly after completing the first lap of the qualifying round and did not finish the race.
Leonard Korir, Iona
Junior, Distance, Iten, Kenya (Tambach Teachers College)
IN 2011: Korir won the NCAA indoor 5000-meter title in a meet-record time of 13:26.01, breaking the previous mark set by Alistair Cragg of Arkansas in 2003 (13:28.93). The junior clocked 57.69 in the final 400 meters to take the crown, record the best collegiate time of the season in 2011, and notch the sixth-fastest time (facility legal) in collegiate history.
Korir was named the MAAC's Most Outstanding Performer on Feb. 18 after finishing first in the mile and anchoring the distance medley relay quartet to a championship at the conference meet.
Mookie Salaam, Oklahoma
Junior, Sprints, Edmond, Okla. (North HS)
IN 2011: Salaam won the NCAA indoor title at 200 meters with one of the closest finishes possible. Florida State’s Maurice Mitchell clocked 20.41 in section one of the national final, and Salaam matched that mark in winning section two. When the times were examined closer to the thousandths, Salaam got the nod over Mitchell with official times of 20.401 to 20.403. Salaam would run a world’s season best time in the preliminaries earlier in that same evening in posting a 20.39 time, moving the Sooner to the all-time collegiate top ten in the process.
Salaam also placed eighth at the NCAA’s 60-meter final and appeared to be suffering some sort of injury. The previous day, Salaam recorded the fastest time in the preliminary round of 6.55, ironically two-thousandths better than Mitchell again (6.546 to 6.548). Salaam would run sub-6.60 in the 60 five times during the season, including when he completed the 60-200 double at the Big 12 Indoor Championships and won the 60 at the Tyson Invitational.
Christian Taylor, Florida
Junior, Jumps, Fayetteville, Ga. (Sandy Creek HS)
IN 2011: Taylor sent quite a message in winning the SEC Championship triple jump on his final attempt. With a mark of 56-11½ (17.36m) that not only won the event for the third-straight time and set a new SEC record, he became the third all-time best collegian indoors in the event. Only Charlie Simpkins (Baptist, 17.50m, 57-5, 1986) and Mike Conley (Arkansas, 17.40m, 57-1, 1985) have jumped farther in indoor collegiate history than Taylor. The Gator also finished eighth at the SEC meet in the long jump and has a season’s best in the event of 25-0 (7.62m), good for the national top 25.
Taylor placed second at the NCAA meet to teammate Claye with a last-round best of 55-9 (16.99m).
The Bowerman Advisory Board appointed four of its members to comprise The Bowerman Men’s Watch Committee and another four of its members to make up The Bowerman Women’s Watch Committee. The committee will release their next men’s update on Wednesday, April 6. The three men and three women finalists will be named late June.
For more information on The Bowerman, the award, the magnificent trophy, and Bill Bowerman himself, visit TheBowerman.org. Keep up with Bowerman candidates on the USTFCCCA’s weekly results page (http://www.ustfccca.org/weekly-results) and by following the organization’s twitter feed twitter.com/TheBowerman and Facebook page facebook.com/TheBowerman.
ALSO RECEIVING MENTION (12)
NAME
YEAR
SCHOOL
EVENTS
HOMETOWN
Robby Andrews (D)
SO
Virginia
Distance
Englishtown, N.J.
Andy Bayer
RS SO
Indiana
Distance
Leo, Ind.
Charles Clark
SR (out)
Florida State
Sprints
Virginia Beach, Va.
German Fernandez
JR/SO
Oklahoma State
Distance
Riverbank, Calif.
Mason Finley (D)
SO
Kansas
Throws
Salida, Colo.
Marquise Goodwin
SO
Texas
Jumps/Sprints
Garland, Texas
Leford Green
JR
Johnson C. Smith
Sprints
St. Catherine, Jamaica
Erik Kynard (D)
SO
Kansas State
Jumps
Toledo, Ohio
Torrin Lawrence
JR
Georgia
Sprints
Jacksonville, Fla.
Demetrius Pinder
SR
Texas A&M
Sprints
Freeport, Bahamas
Dorian Ulrey
SR
Arkansas
Distance
Port Byron, Ill.
Craig Van Leeuwen
JR
Ramapo
Pole Vault
Little River Falls, N.J.
(D) – demoted from the watch list this update
(N) – new to either list this update
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Tom Lewis
U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association
Communications Manager
1100 Poydras St., Suite 1750
New Orleans, LA 70163
(O) 504-599-8904 (F) 504-599-8909
Email: tom@ustfccca.org
Follow Us: twitter.com/USTFCCCA
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