Track & Field
Abby Steiner Remains on The Bowerman Watch List

Abby Steiner Remains on The Bowerman Watch List

by Tony Neely

LEXINGTON, Kentucky – University of Kentucky sprinter Abby Steiner continues on the watch list the Bowerman Award, given 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 fourth time this year.  During the outdoor season, she has won all three races in which she has completed.  She won the 200-meter dash at the Tom Jones Memorial Meet in Gainesville, with a time of 22.79 seconds that is the fourth-fastest in the nation this year.  She also was part of the winning 4×400-meter relay at the Florida Relays with a time of 3:29.91 that is the fourth-fastest mark in Kentucky history.  She inaugurated the outdoor season as part of the victorious 4×100 unit that won at South Carolina’s Weems Baskin Relays in a time of 44.36 seconds.

Steiner 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 ranked 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.

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.

Follow along with the Cats on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and on the web at UKathletics.com.  

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