The Bowerman is given each year to the most outstanding male and female NCAA track & field athletes. Florida State's Trey Cunningham won the 2022 men's award and Kentucky's Abby Steiner won the 2022 women's award.
Here's everything you need to know about the annual honor, presented by the USTFCCCA.
What is The Bowerman and who is it named after?
The Bowerman debuted in 2009 as an award to honor the most outstanding male and female NCAA track & field athletes.
The athlete of the year award's namesake, Bill Bowerman, is a legend in track and field, coaching at Oregon from 1949-72. Bowerman’s Ducks won four national team titles and finished twice as runner-up. Individually, Bowerman coached 24 NCAA individual champs, 33 Olympians and 64 All-Americans. Bowerman also coached the 1972 Olympic Team.
Off the track, Bowerman was president of the USTFCCCA’s predecessor organization, the National Collegiate Track Coaches Association, and later co-founded Nike. Bowerman also was one of the primary leaders in the formation of the United States Track and Field Federation. For his contributions to the sport, Bowerman was an inaugural inductee into the USTFCCCA Hall of Fame in 1995.
🏆: Here are the DI track and field teams with most NCAA championships
How does Bowerman voting work?
A panel of national and regional media personnel, track & field statisticians, NCAA collegiate administrators, past winners and Presidents of affiliated organizations vote on the award's winner, based on players' regular-season performances. Moreover, USTFCCCA members and fans each collectively receive one vote in The Bowerman voting.
On ballots, each first choice vote is worth three points, with second and third choice votes receiving two and one points, respectively.
Voters consider athletes’ performances from the NCAA indoor track & field and outdoor track & field seasons. The performance window for The Bowerman is from December 1 through the NCAA outdoor track and field championships. Performances must be from the year in which the award is given to qualify. However, an athlete does not have to compete in both the indoor and outdoor seasons to be eligible for the award. Cross country performances are not considered.
When is The Bowerman winner announced?
Below is the annual timeline for The Bowerman.
- January (first week): Initial meetings of The Bowerman Watch Committees, The Bowerman Men’s and Women’s Preseason Watch Lists published
- February (first week): First regular-season release of Watch Lists
- March (post-indoor conference championships): Second regular-season release of Watch Lists
- March (post-NCAA Indoor Championships): Third regular-season release of Watch Lists
- April (third full week): Fourth regular-season release of Watch Lists
- May (first week): Fifth regular-season release of Watch Lists
- May (post-outdoor conference championships): Sixth regular-season release of Watch Lists
- June (post-NCAA DI first rounds): Seventh regular-season release of Watch Lists
- June (post-NCAA DI Outdoor Championship finals): Release of award semifinalists
- June: Meeting of Bowerman Advisory Board to select three male and three female finalists
- June: The Bowerman Men’s and Women’s Finalists announced
- June: The Bowerman ballots delivered to The Bowerman Voters
- July: The Bowerman voting closes
- December: The Bowerman winners announced
💨: Wind and scoring in track and field, explained
Bowerman winners by school
16 schools have won at least one Bowerman, whether that be a men's or women's trophy. From those 15, just five schools have won multiple Bowermans in their history.
Oregon leads all schools with five total Bowermans, followed by Texas A&M and LSU with three each. The latter two programs added to this total with the 2021 women's and men's Bowermans, respectively.
Here are the schools with the most combined (men's and women's) Bowermans.
| Number of Bowermans | School |
|---|---|
| 5 | Oregon |
| 3 | Texas A&M, LSU |
| 2 | Florida, Florida State |
| 1 | Southern Utah, Indiana, Arkansas, Tennessee, Southern California, Colorado, Virginia Tech, Clemson, Texas, Georgia, Kentucky |
Men’s winners by school
Here are the schools with the most men’s Bowermans.
| Number of Bowermans | School |
|---|---|
| 2 | Oregon, Florida, Florida State |
| 1 | Southern Utah, Indiana, Texas A&M, Arkansas, Tennessee, Southern California, LSU |
Women’s winners by school
Here are the schools with the most women’s Bowermans.
| Number of Bowermans | School |
|---|---|
| 3 | Oregon |
| 2 | Texas A&M, LSU |
| 1 | Colorado, Virginia Tech, Clemson, Texas, Georgia, Kentucky |
NCAA T&F: Here's how the outdoor track and field championships work
Bowerman winners by conference
Here are the conferences with the most combined (men's and women's) Bowermans.
| Number of Bowermans | Conference |
|---|---|
| 12 | SEC |
| 7 | Pac-12 |
| 4 | ACC |
| 1 | Big 12, Big Ten, Big Sky |
Men’s winners by conference
Here are the conferences with the most men’s Bowermans.
| Number of Bowermans | Conference |
|---|---|
| 6 | SEC |
| 3 | Pac-12 |
| 2 | ACC |
| 1 | Big Ten, Big Sky |
Women’s winners by conference
Here are the conferences with the most women’s Bowermans.
| Number of Bowermans | Conference |
|---|---|
| 6 | SEC |
| 4 | Pac-12 |
| 2 | ACC |
| 1 | Big 12 |
VENUE HISTORY: These historic moments all happened at Hayward Field
Complete history of past Bowerman recipients
2022
Florida State's Trey Cunningham and Kentucky's Abby Steiner won the 2022 men's and women's Bowermans, respectively.
Cunningham took home the men's award, becoming the second Seminole to take home the hardware. Cunningham swept the short sprint hurdle titles, winning the NCAA championship in the 60 meter hurdles and 110 meter hurdles.
MORE: The top moments from Bowerman winner Trey Cunningham's 2022 season
Steiner won the women's award and is the first athlete in Kentucky history to win the Bowerman. Steiner swept the 200 meter NCAA titles and ran on the winning NCAA 4x400 meter relay team. Steiner set four NCAA records in 2022.
MORE: The top moments from Bowerman winner Abby Steiner's 2022 season
2021
LSU’s JuVaughn Harrison and Texas A&M’s Athing Mu are the 12th recipients of The Bowerman.
Harrison took home the men’s award, becoming the first LSU male to win the hardware. During the indoor season, Harrison became the first Division I athlete to win both the high jump and long jump championships. He then completed the sweep during the outdoor season, in total taking home four NCAA titles in one calendar year.
Mu took home the women’s award after record-shattering performances in the indoor and outdoor seasons. During the indoor season, Mu set new records in both the 600 meters and 800 meters. She also finished with the fifth-fastest 400-meter performance in collegiate indoor history. At the indoor championships, Mu anchored Texas A&M’s title-winning 4x400 meter relay with a 49.54 split, the fastest split ever. During the outdoor season, Mu again set the 800-meter collegiate record. She later set the 400-meter collegiate record and took home the NCAA individual outdoor title.
More
Other notable past honorees include eventual Olympic stars Ashton Eaton (Oregon, 2010), Courtney Okolo (Texas, 2016), Christian Coleman (Tennessee, 2017), Grant Holloway (Florida, 2019), and Sha’Carri Richardson (LSU, 2019). See the full list below.
| Year | Athlete | Gender | School | Top moments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Trey Cunningham | Men's | Florida State | Watch here |
| Abby Steiner | Women's | Kentucky | Watch here | |
| 2021 | JuVaughn Harrison | Men's | LSU | |
| Athing Mu | Women's | Texas A&M | ||
| 2019 | Grant Holloway | Men's | Florida | |
| Sha'Carri Richardson | Women's | LSU | ||
| 2018 | Michael Norman | Men's | Southern California | |
| Keturah Orji | Women's | Georgia | ||
| 2017 | Christian Coleman | Men's | Tennessee | |
| Raevyn Rogers | Women's | Oregon | ||
| 2016 | Jarrion Lawson | Men's | Arkansas | |
| Courtney Okolo | Women's | Texas | ||
| 2015 | Marquis Dendy | Men's | Florida | |
| Jenna Prandini | Women's | Oregon | ||
| 2014 | Deon Lendore | Men's | Texas A&M | |
| Laura Roesler | Women's | Oregon | ||
| 2013 | Derek Drouin | Men's | Indiana | |
| Brianna Rollins | Women's | Clemson | ||
| 2012 | Cam Levins | Men's | Southern Utah | |
| Kimberlyn Duncan | Women's | LSU | ||
| 2011 | Ngoni Makusha | Men's | Florida State | |
| Jessica Beard | Women's | Texas A&M | ||
| 2010 | Ashton Eaton | Men's | Oregon | |
| Queen Harrison | Women's | Virginia Tech | ||
| 2009 | Galen Rupp | Men's | Oregon | |
| Jenny Barringer | Women's | Colorado |
🏆: Arkansas sweeps 2023 indoor titles | Florida, Texas win 2023 outdoor titles | How the outdoor championships work
💥HISTORY: Programs with the most titles | Men's champ history | Women's champ history | Bowerman history
🧠 WHAT TO KNOW: Wind and scoring explained | Greatest venues | Best uniforms | The difference between indoor and outdoor seasons
🥇 Tokyo Olympians: Karel Tiga | JuVaughn Harrison | Cole Hocker | Camryn Rogers | Ruth Usoro | Athing Mu | Tara Davis | Tyra Gittens
