Abby Steiner Remains on The Bowerman Watch List

LEXINGTON, Kentucky – Beginning her competition in outdoor track, and coming off a collegiate-record, NCAA Championship 200-meter performance during the indoor season, University of Kentucky sprinter Abby Steiner continues on The Bowerman watch list. The Bowerman is awarded annually to the most outstanding collegiate male and female track and field athletes, announced Wednesday by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. 

Steiner is on the watch list for the third time this season.  She made the list initially on March 3, following the Southeastern Conference Indoor Championships, in which she set a then-SEC record with a time of 22.41 seconds in the 200-meter dash.  Note the word “then,” because the record didn’t last long.  On March 13, she set a new standard with a time of 22.38 as she won the gold medal at the NCAA Indoor Championships, setting numerous records and milestones in the process:

·         Tied the all-time indoor collegiate record and the NCAA Indoor Championship record (also 22.38 by Gabby Thomas of Harvard)

·         Tied for second-fastest indoors in United States history (record is 22.33 by Gwen Torrence)

·         Fastest time in the world for the 2021 indoor season

·         Tied for fifth-fastest indoors in world history (record of 21.87 by Merlene Ottey of Jamaica)

·         Set a personal best (previous best 22.41 at this year’s SEC Indoor Championship preliminaries)

·         Broke her own school record of 22.41

·         Broke her own SEC record of 22.41

·         Broke the Randal Tyson Center facility record (previous record 22.40 by Shaunae Miller-Uibo of the Bahamas and Bianca Knight of the University of Texas)

Steiner also improved her personal best time in the 60-meter dash to 7.21 seconds in February, which ranked ninth this season in the NCAA.  In addition, she ran a leg on UK’s 4x400m relay that won the silver medal at the SECs with a school-record mark of 3:28.82. That time ranks No. 4 in the nation this year. 

Steiner was named SEC Co-Runner of the Week on two occasions.  On Feb. 5-6 at the South Carolina Invitational, she won the 60- and 200-meter dashes while running the fastest leg of the 4×400 relay. On Feb. 12-13 at the Tiger Paw Invitational, she set her personal best in the 60m while running a then-school record in the 200m.

Steiner expects to begin her individual outdoor competition this week at the Tom Jones Memorial Meet in Gainesville, Fla.  Tentatively, she plans to compete in the 100m, 200m and either the 4x100m or 4x400m relay during the outdoor season.

The USTFCCA announced a 10-person watch list for The Bowerman, which takes into consideration both the indoor and outdoor seasons. Steiner is the seventh UK female athlete to make the watch list since the award began in 2009 and the first since semifinalist Jasmine Camacho-Quinn and finalist Sydney McLaughlin were on the watch list together in 2018.  This year’s finalists will be announced in June.

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