The collegiate indoor season is behind us, but what a season it was.
We were treated to a countless number of collegiate, meet and national records, and the fun has just begun as the outdoor season kicks off.
Georgia’s Kyle Garland broke Ashton Eaton’s heptathlon’s collegiate record and came within six points of breaking the world record at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships. At that same meet Jaydon Hibbert, who broke the collegiate record in the triple jump and Carey McLeod, who won the long jump, helped the Arkansas men team win the team title, while also showing why they’re one of, if not the best team in the nation when it comes to the field events.
When you’re talking about elite performances, you can’t forget about Jasmine Moore and how she dominated the long jump and the triple jump, winning the NCAA titles in both events. She also set the American indoor record in the triple jump, and broke the collegiate record in the long jump on her first attempt.
Katelyn Touhy has dominated the women’s distance running scene, winning the 3000/5000m double at the NCAA Indoor Championships, while in the sprints, Terrance Jones of Texas Tech bounced back from a disappointing end to his indoor season last year to win the men’s 60m title.
The outdoor season is set to feature many great performances by elite athletes from around the sport. But with that comes a slight problem, specifically when it comes to the Bowerman Award and those who are chosen as finalists.
There can only be three.
John Anderson of ESPN believes that like last year, the decision to figure out the three Bowerman Award finalist will be extremely tough to make.
“Last year where we had the four that were going to be trouble last year with Abby Steiner, Anna Hall, Camryn Rogers and Jasmine Moore, and you only have room for three,” he said. “So this year, you’re going to have Katelyn Touhy, Jasmine Moore, Julien Alfred and before it’s done because she’s going to get some hurdles, Britton Wilson. Now you tell me which one of them that you’re leaving out. I’ll score a bunch of points with those four people – I’ll win a track meet, guaranteed.
I don’t know if the men’s list is as strong 1-10, but I’m not sure that I want to be the guy right now without more data that figures out whose three out of those four, because those four are a smoke show.”
On this episode of Track Talk, Anderson gives his post-indoor Bowerman Award list and previews the outdoor season.
