The Bowerman: 2011 Male Semi-finalists Candidates named, by USTFCCCA, note by Larry Eder

Bill Bowerman, 1911-1999,
photo courtesy of Nike Archives

Now in it’s third year, the Bowerman Awards, recognizing the top collegians in track & field and cross country, has become a real winner! Developed by the USTFCCCA’s Sam Seames, the Bowerman, named in honor of the iconic coach/inventor who graced the University of Oregon and founded Nike with one of his former athletes, Phil Knight.

This is list of the top male candidates-the women will be introduced tomorrow!

http://www.thebowerman.org/news/mens-semifinalists-for-the-bowerman-2011-named

Women’s semifinalists named Tuesday.

Season’s meet-by-meet ledger and full bios available later this week.

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

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 4×400-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 4×100-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 4×100-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 4×100- and 4×400-meter relay teams, qualified for the
national finals in both events outdoors. At Penn Relays, 4×100 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.