Raevyn Rogers reacts when she is announced as 2017 The Bowerman award winner
Photo credit-US MileSplit
The Bowerman Award is track and field's version of football's Heisman award. That means the award subjectively goes to the best male and best female athlete of the year.
In the previous eight years existence of the award, there have been several former Texas high school athletes who have made the Bowerman finalist line up. Three Texas have gone on to win the award including last year's Texas sweep with Jarrion Lawson of Arkansas and Texarkana Liberty-Elyau win on the men's side and Texas' Courtney Okolo from Carrollton Smith on the women's side.
The other former Texas prep to win was in 2012 when sprinter Kimberlyn Duncan of LSU and Cy-Springs star won.
In this ninth season of The Bowerman award, Texas A&M sprinter and Taylor, Texas alum Fred Kerley was nominated for the men and Oregon middle distance star and Houston Kinkaid alum Raevyn Rogers was nominated for the women.
Kerley led A&M to an indoor national title. He did so by winning the 400m in 44.85. That was just a warm up to the outdoor season as he went on to win the SEC 400m title en route on the NCAA 400m title. During the season, Kerley also ran to a 43.70 NCAA record becoming the first collegian to run sub 44.00 and the 7th best 400m All-Time in the world.
The men's Bowerman winner would eventually be Tennessee sprinter Christian Coleman.
Although Kerley would fall just short of winning the men's award, Raevyn Rogers would go on to be named the women's Bowerman award winner for the 2017 NCAA season. Rogers would thank her Oregon coaches and teammates as well as The Wings Track Club in Houston.
She would become the fourth Texas prep athlete and fifth Oregon Duck to win the award.
Rogers' 2017 Award Winning Resume:
- Broke the 27-year-old NCAA record in the 800m with a stunning 1:59.10
- Won third straight NCAA Indoor and Outdoor 800m titles. First collegian to win three straight 800m NCAA titles.
- Helped Oregon break the 13-year-old NCAA record in the 4x400m by splitting 49.77 on the anchor leg for a winning time of 3:23.13; her split was the sixth-fastest in meet history
- Anchored Oregon to collegiate record in the sprint medley relay (3:30.05) with a 2:02.44 split