Abby Steiner and Alexis Holmes Named to Bowerman Watch List
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kentucky track & field senior sprinters Abby Steiner and Alexis Holmes have been named to The Bowerman Award Watch List for their top times in the 200- and 400-meter races on the world stage.
The USTFCCCA announced a 10-person watch list for The Bowerman, which takes into consideration both the indoor and outdoor seasons. This year’s finalists will be announced in June.
This is Steiner’s seventh appearance on The Bowerman watch list after appearing on the preseason watch list released in January. Four of 2021’s watch lists also had Steiner among them.
This is Holmes’ first career appearance on the watch list, which she earned through her gold-medal winning performance at Southeastern Conference Championships in the 400 meters (50.77).
Abby Steiner
Steiner’s Bowerman watch list debut was on March 3, 2021, five days after breaking the then-Southeastern Conference record in the women’s indoor 200 meters with a blazing 22.41 preliminary run.
Steiner remained on the watch list through her NCAA Indoor Championship title and collegiate record-performance in the 200m (22.38) in March 2021. However, she saw limited competition during the outdoor season and was taken off the list in April 2021.
The All-American from Ohio is the seventh UK women’s 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.
Steiner wowed the world on February 26 when she ran the fastest indoor 200m in American history and second fastest in world history at 22.09 seconds to earn the SEC gold. This was her third year in a row winning the 200m SEC gold medal and third time breaking the collegiate record.
She broke her own collegiate record, the SEC Championships record, school record, meet record and Gilliam Indoor Stadium record.
The previous fastest indoor 200m in American history was Gwen Torrence’s 22.33 at the USA Championship in 1996.
The reigning national champion is now .22 away from Jamaican Merlene Ottey’s 21.87 world record.
In addition to her 200m gold, Steiner also won bronze in the 60m with a time of 7.19 and was a member of the bronze medal-winning 4x400m relay (3:25.89) that ran under the previous collegiate record.
At Clemson in February, Steiner tied the 60m school record Dezerea Bryant set in 2014, with the top time of the 60m semifinals (7.12). It was also the fastest women’s 60m time of the day, including prelims, semifinals and finals.
The senior sprinter has won SEC Female Runner of the Week twice this season along with winning USTFCCCA Athlete of the Week three times and was recently named the SEC Indoor Track & Field Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
Alexis Holmes
Holmes missed a large portion of the 2021 season due to injury but has bounced back this season to become the current third-fastest woman in the world this season, fastest collegian and second fastest in UKTF history with 50.77 run.
Holmes, a transfer from Penn State, won the 2019 indoor and outdoor Big Ten Championship 400m as a freshman and won Big Ten Freshman of the Year, along with earning an All-American distinction.
She was the only freshman to qualify for the 400m final at the 2019 NCAA Indoor Championships.
Her first year at Kentucky brought her another conference title when she won the 2020 SEC Championship 400m and qualified for NCAAs, which were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Steiner will look to defend her 2021 national title in the 200m as Holmes aims for her first national title from Friday, March 11 to Saturday, March 12 in Birmingham, Alabama at the 2022 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships.
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