By Jacob Most
April 17, 2014 –

LEXINGTON, Ky. – For the second time this season the sixth-ranked Kentucky women’s track and field team has two athletes on The Bowerman Watch List.

Junior sprinter Dezerea Bryant remained on the Watch List for the fourth straight edition. Bryant was rejoined for the second time this season by junior hurdler Kendra Harrison, who owns the top NCAA 100-meter hurdles time this season, 12.64w (+2.1m/s) and the No. 2 spot in the 400-meter hurdles at 56.60. She has competed in each event just once this outdoor season.

Kentucky is one of four teams ranked in the top-6 with a pair of athletes on the watch list. The others are Top-ranked Texas A&M (Kamaria Brown and Shelbi Vaughan), No. 3 Texas (Morolake Akinosun and Kaitlin Petrillose) and No. 4 Oregon (Phyllis Francis and Laura Roesler).

Bryant was the 2014 NCAA Indoor 200m Champion, and finished runner-up at 60 meters by just .01 in 7.12 behind rival Watch List member Remona Burchell of Alabama, putting her at No. 4 on the all-time collegiate performers list. Additionally she won the Southeastern Conference 60m Championship and was the 200m runner-up.

She currently ranks second nationally at 100m and third in the NCAA at 200m having competed in each event just once this year.

Harrison and Bryant ran the first two legs of UK’s school-record 4x400m relay team, which ranks fourth in the nation this season with a time of 3:31.19. Bryant was also part of UK’s record-breaking 4x100m relay, with a time of 43.65, which also ranks fourth nationally.

Harrison broke the Southeastern Conference record en route to the SEC Indoor Championship in the 60m hurdles.

Both Harrison and Bryant will compete at this weekend’s Kentucky Relays at the UK Outdoor Track and Field Complex before heading to the Penn Relays next weekend.

The Bowerman Trophy, which was first awarded in 2009, is presented annually by the USTFCCCA to the most outstanding male and female collegiate track & field athletes in the nation.

Past winners include Olympic gold medalist, World Champion and decathlon world-record holder Ashton Eaton (2010); 10,000-meter Olympic silver medalist Galen Rupp (2009); and 2011 IAAF World Champion at 1500 meters, Jenny Simpson (2009).

In total, the winners from the award’s first four years have won three Olympic Medals, six World Championships (one relay, two indoor) and 11 World Championships medals (two relay, one indoor). When considering finalists for the award, 13 individuals have earned a combined six Olympic medals, eight World Championships (one relay, four indoor) and 23 World Championships medals (three realy, six indoor).

The Bowerman Women’s Watch List – April 2014

(Click student-athletes’ names for biographies & Notes)