Harrison Leads as Bowerman Award Fan Voting Enters Final Hours

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LEXINGTON. Ky. – Kentucky’s Kendra Harrison holds a narrow lead as voting for the Bowerman Award has reached its final stages.

Harrison, the fastest combination hurdler in collegiate history, will be looking to maintain her advantage in the final hours of the vote, which ends at Noon ET on Tuesday.  

Harrison has approximately 44 percent of the vote. Stephen F Austin pole vaulter Demi Payne has approximately 38 percent, while Oregon sprinter/jumper Jenna Prandini has approximately 18 percent.

Fans can vote once per device.

Fans who vote for Harrison on TheBowerman.org and post proof of their vote via screenshot to the Kentucky track and field team’s social media accounts (@KentuckyTrack) on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook will be entered for a chance to win a Harrison Bowerman Finalist commemorative usb drive hurdle. 

Harrison is the only Bowerman finalist to have gone through the collegiate season undefeated in one event both indoors and outdoors. She did not lose a short hurdles race (60-meter hurdles indoors and 100m hurdles outdoors) throughout the 2015 collegiate season. She won two NCAA Championships, two Southeastern Conference titles in addition to the NCAA and SEC Silver Medals in the 400m hurdles this season.

Additionally, this season she became the only woman in NCAA history to rank in the all-time top-five in three hurdles events

Harrison was named USTFCCCA National Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year, as voted upon by college coaches, in June.

The broader case for Harrison 

Harrison, a senior, won the NCAA Championships in the 60-meter hurdles indoors, the 100m hurdles outdoors, and took second in the 400m hurdles outdoors. 

Her times in the 100m hurdles (12.50) and 60m hurdles (7.87) make her the third fastest college woman ever, trailing only Ginnie Powell and 2013 Bowerman winner Brianna Rollins in both events. She is the fifth-fastest collegian ever in the 400m hurdles.

Her times are all the more impressive considering they came within 35 minutes of one another. For context, Harrison’s NCAA-winning 100m hurdles time of 12.55 (making her the No. 2 performer in the world this year) would have equaled the Bronze Medal performance at the 2013 IAAF World Championships, while her 400m hurdles time (also ranked No. 2 in the world this year) would have equaled the Silver Medal Performance as the last World Championships, and none of the women in that 2013 World Championship Final had run a race earlier that day or the day prior. 

As mentioned earlier, the Bowerman Award does not take into account performances that occur outside the collegiate season.  Harrison’s Silver Medal at the USA Track & Field Championships will not be considered, nor will the fact that she made the U.S. World Championships team.

In in-depth breakdown of the selection is available at TheBowerman.org.