Sydney McLaughlin on Post-Indoor Watch List for the Bowerman

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Following a historic freshman indoor track and field season, Sydney McLaughlin was named to the latest watch list for The Bowerman Award, the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) announced on Wednesday.
 
McLaughlin was one of just two women, the other being teammate Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, to score points (read: earn First-Team All-America honors) in three separate events at the NCAA Indoor Championships.

The 2016 Olympian scored a team-high 14 points at the NCAA Championships, helping UK to third place in the team competition, an indoor school record.
 
McLaughlin broke her world junior record in the 400m, running 50.36 to take silver and score eight points at NCAAs. It took USC’s Kendall Ellis running a collegiate record 50.34 to win from a separate section as only four athletes run on the track at one time in sprint races around 200m banked indoor tracks.
 
McLaughlin’s time ranks No. 2 in collegiate history indoors, and is the best ever by a freshman.
 
She placed fourth in the 200m, and ran a key leg on UK’s fifth-place 4x400m relay, which ran the school record 3:30.08.

McLaughlin’s NCAA preliminary round time of 22.68 broke Dezerea Bryant’s indoor 200m school record, which was set in winning the 2014 NCAA final.

McLaughlin won the Southeastern Conference 400m with a historic time of 50.52, good what then was the second-best mark in indoor collegiate history, the collegiate freshman record and world junior record. She lowered all those marks at NCAAs, and remained the No. 2 indoor 400m performer in NCAA history. McLaughlin also helped the Wildcats claim bronze in the 4×400 at the SEC Championships with a finish of 3:31.96.

Teammate Olivia Gruver was listed as receiving votes after making the two previous iterations of the Bowerman Watch List. The junior took bronze at the NCAA Championships for the second year in a row, after winning the SEC title with the second best pole-vault clearance in indoor collegiate history.
 
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