NEW ORLEANS – The Bowerman Men’s Watch Committee in conjunction with the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) announced on Monday the ten male semifinalists for collegiate track & field’s biggest award – The Bowerman. With the collegiate season complete, the semifinalists will be evaluated by the ten-person Bowerman Advisory Board and three finalists will be named from the semifinalist group on Wednesday, July 13.
THE BOWERMAN SEMIFINALISTS 2011 MEN
NAME
YEAR
SCHOOL
EVENTS
HOMETOWN
Jeshua Anderson
SR
Washington State
Hurdles
Woodland Hills, Calif.
Robby Andrews
SO
Virginia
Distance
Englishtown, N.J.
Sam Chelanga
RS SR
Liberty
Distance
Nairobi, Kenya
Will Claye
JR
Florida
Jumps
Phoenix, Ariz.
Kirani James
SO
Alabama
Sprints
Gouyave, Grenada
Leonard Korir
JR
Iona
Distance
Iten, Kenya
Ngoni Makusha
JR
Florida State
Jumps/Sprints
Zimbabwe
Maurice Mitchell
JR
Florida State
Sprints
Kansas City, Mo.
Scott Roth
SR
Washington
Pole Vault
Granite Bay, Calif.
Christian Taylor
JR
Florida
Jumps
Fayetteville, Ga.
Jeshua Anderson, Washington State
Senior, Hurdles, Woodland Hills, Calif. (Taft HS)
QUICKLY: Joined BYU’s Ralph Mann (1969-70-71) and Iowa State’s Danny Harris (1984-85-86) as the only three to win a third NCAA-championship title in the 400-meter hurdles. Won the 2011 NCAA title in 48.56, over a half-second ahead of the rest of the field in the event’s finals. Earned the season’s collegiate best, and current American-leading, 400-hurdle time of 48.13 in winning a fourth-straight Pac-10 crown. Clocking also ranks second in the world so far in 2011 and ranks among the collegiate all-time top five.
Robby Andrews, Virginia
Sophomore, Distance, Englishtown, N.J. (Manalapan HS)
QUICKLY: Won first NCAA outdoor 800-meter title with a memorable, come-from-behind 200-meter sprint to the finish. Sitting in last place at the 600-meter mark, Andrews used a 26.44-second final close to pass the entire field to grab the tape from UC Irvine’s Charles Jock by only four hundredths of a second. Final time at the NCAA meet of 1:44.71 equaled the best collegiate and current best American mark of the year (Cory Primm, UCLA).
Sam Chelanga, Liberty
RS Senior, Distance, Nairobi, Kenya (Bartolimo HS/Fairleigh Dickinson)
QUICKLY: NCAA Champion outdoors in the 5000 meters and national runner-up indoors in the 5k and outdoors in the 10k. National championship in the 5k was clinched in a season’s best time of 13:29.30 which included a 58.15 final-lap split. Recorded the collegiate season’s best 7:48.24 indoors in the 3000 meters at the professional-laden New Balance Games in Boston in February
Will Claye, Florida
Junior, Jumps, Phoenix, Ariz. (Mountain Pointe HS/Oklahoma)
QUICKLY: Claimed the NCAA’s indoor national championship in the triple jump and was the nation’s runner-up indoors in the long jump and outdoors in the triple. Also finished third outdoors in the long jump. Outdoors, notched SEC victories in both horizontal jumps, the first to do so since 2004. Wind-legal performances during the outdoor season of 27-2½ (8.29m) and 56-11¼ (17.35m) are among the world’s top five so far in 2011. Wind-aided triple jump of 57-9¾ (17.62m) at the NCAA outdoor meet is the third-best all-conditions collegiate mark of all time.
Kirani James, Alabama
Sophomore, Sprints, Gouyave, Grenada
QUICKLY: Claimed NCAA outdoor title in the 400 meters for the second-straight year, becoming the first back-to-back titlist in the event since Auburn’s Avard Moncur in 2000 and 2001. Swept SEC crowns in the 400 with both indoor and outdoor wins and recorded an all-time world junior indoor best with a 44.80 clocking in taking the league’s indoor crown in February. Clocked 44.6 split as the second leg of Grenada’s 4x400-relay team that finished third in the USA vs. The World race at the Penn Relays.
Leonard Korir, Iona
Junior, Distance, Iten, Kenya (Tambach Teachers College)
QUICKLY: Indoor 5000-meter and outdoor 10,000-meter NCAA champion in 2011. Split a 56.18 final lap to claim the outdoor national title. Also finished third outdoors nationally in the 5000 and sixth indoors at 3000 meters. In clocking 27:29.40 in the 10k at Stanford’s Payton Jordan Invitational in May, he moved to second all-time in collegiate history in the event (Sam Chelanga, 27:08.39, 2010).
Ngoni Makusha, Florida State
Junior, Jumps/Sprints, Zimbabwe (Mandedza HS)
QUICKLY: Won NCAA outdoor titles in the 100 meters and long jump, joining Carl Lewis, Jesse Owens, and Michigan’s DeHart Hubbard as only the fourth man in NCAA Division I history to claim such a double at a single championship. Also claimed NCAA long jump title during the indoor season, becoming the first since 2006 to sweep the event’s two titles (Arturs Abolins, Nebraska, 2006). Notched a third NCAA championship as second-leg of 4x100-meter relay. Run of 9.89 in the NCAA’s 100-meter final broke the 1996 collegiate- and championship-meet record of 9.92 set in 1996 by UCLA’s Ato Bolden. Clocked 9.97 to win ACC crown and swept league titles in the long jump. Season’s best in the long jump and 100 meters rank amongst the world’s top five this year.
Maurice Mitchell, Florida State
Junior, Sprints, Kansas City, Mo. (Raytown South HS)
QUICKLY: NCAA outdoor 200-meter champion in a wind-aided 19.99 and third-leg of Florida State’s national champion 4x100-meter relay team. Was national runner-up indoors in the 200 and was only bested by Oklahoma’s Mookie Salaam who took the title by two thousandths of a second in a different section. Placed third at the NCAA meet indoors in the 60 and outdoors in the 100 meters. Did not lose a 200-meter race in 13 tries during the indoor and outdoor seasons.
Scott Roth, Washington
Senior, Pole Vault, Granite Bay, Calif. (Granite Bay HS)
QUICKLY: Claimed a sweep of NCAA pole vault crowns during the 2011 year, becoming the fourth to do so since 2000. Marked indoor personal best of 18-1 (5.51m) during the indoor season and an overall personal best of 18-9¼ (5.72m) to take victory at the Mt. SAC Relays. At the end of the collegiate season, season’s best mark ranked among the world’s top five.
Christian Taylor, Florida
Junior, Jumps, Fayetteville, Ga. (Sandy Creek HS)
QUICKLY: Winner of the NCAA’s outdoor triple jump title with an all-time, all-conditions collegiate best mark of 58-4¾ (17.80m). The wind-aided title clincher came on the final attempt of a back-and-forth battle with teammate Will Claye. Marked wind-legal 57-1 (17.40m) in the competition’s fourth round to claim the season’s collegiate best mark and current American-leading mark. Finished second nationally indoors to Claye in the triple jump and qualified for both meets in the long jump. With Florida’s 4x100- and 4x400-meter relay teams, qualified for the national finals in both events outdoors. At Penn Relays, 4x100 squad finished second in the Championship of America race.
About The Bowerman
The Bowerman, which debuted in 2009, is presented annually by the USTFCCCA to the top male and female collegiate track & field athletes in the nation. Oregon's Ashton Eaton and Virginia Tech’s Queen Harrison are the reigning winners of The Bowerman, which is named for legendary Oregon track & field and cross country coach Bill Bowerman.
Bowerman served the sport of track and field in numerous ways. His leadership in the USTFCCCA’s predecessor organization, the National Collegiate Track Coaches Association, and his contributions to NCAA track and field and the running community as a whole are among his many lasting legacies.
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.
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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
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