Masai Russell Remains on Bowerman Watchlist

LEXINGTON, Ky. — University of Kentucky track & field hurdler Masai Russell is one of ten collegiate track & field athletes to be named to the Pre-NCAA Indoor Championships edition of The Bowerman Watchlist by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

The USTFCCCA announced the latest edition of 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 December.

This is Russell’s second inclusion on The Bowerman watch list after appearing on the first watch list released in February. The graduate student from Potomac, Maryland, earned the spot after winning gold at the SEC Championships this past weekend in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 7.77 seconds.

Russell was included in the first watchlist after she breezed the hurdles in 7.75 seconds, setting a new collegiate record last month. Her record eclipsed the mark of 7.78 seconds set by Grace Stark of Florida at the 2022 NCAA Championships and Brianna Rollins of Clemson in 2013. Russell also moved past the Kentucky standard of 7.87 seconds owned by Keni Harrison, an eventual Olympic medalist, since 2015. Harrison’s 7.87 was her winning time in the 2015 NCAA Final.

Russell now has the top-2 collegiate 60 hurdles times in history after her 7.77 win at the SEC Championships. She is undefeated in five hurdles finals and has set a personal best in the 200 (23.51) and tied her best in the 60 (7.41).

Russell is the eighth UK female athlete to make the watch list since the award began in 2009 and the first since Abby Steiner won the award last year.

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