Abby Steiner stays on Bowerman Watch List following SEC Championships

ZGeogheganKSR

The Bowerman Watch List might as well reserve a weekly spot for Abby Steiner at this point.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) released its Post-Conference Championship watch list, where Steiner made the cut for the 11th time in her career and the seventh time this season. The Bowerman Award has been handed out annually since 2009 to the top male and female college track and field athletes.

During this past weekend’s Southeastern Conference Outdoor Championships, Steiner was part of the record-setting 4×400-meter relay while also taking home silver medals in both the 200- and 100-meter races. Her 200m run time of 22.07 was top-10 in college history.

This week’s updated watch list includes just 10 athletes from both the indoor and outdoor seasons. The USTFCCA will announce the finalists for the Bowerman Award in June.

With her name now attached to three collegiate records, @abbysteiner1 remains on @thebowerman Watchlist!

📃https://t.co/nYAXJ6uFBq #UKTF x #SteinerSpeed pic.twitter.com/suyJaqeHaY
— UK Track & Field (@KentuckyTrack) May 18, 2022

Earlier this month, Steiner was named the SEC Outdoor Track & Field Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

Steiner first made the Bowerman Watch List as a junior on March 3, 2021. This came less than a week after she broke the then-SEC record time in the women’s indoor 200m with a time of 22.41. Steiner made the list three more times that season. She is the seventh UK women’s track and field athlete to make the watch list in school history.

Bowerman Women’s Watch List (Update No. 6)

Below is more on Steiner’s incredible senior season, courtesy of UK Athletics.

Steiner earned a spot on this year’s watch list through consistent collegiate and school record-breaking performances in the 2021-22 season.

Shortly before SEC Championships, Steiner ran the third fastest outdoor 200m in collegiate history and second fastest in the NCAA this season with a wind-legal 22.05 run at the Kentucky Invitational. It was also a school record, meaning Steiner’s name is now tied to seven different program records.

She also played a part in the then-third fastest 4x400m of the collegiate season, with the group of Steiner, Alexis Holmes, Karmiah Davis and Dajour Miles clocking 3:25.79 for a school record in front of Big Blue Nation on UKTF’s Senior Day.

In April, aside from her 22.05 run in the 200m at home, Steiner made history in the 100m in early April at the Joe May Invitational, running the fifth fastest 100m in collegiate history at 10.82 seconds, which is a school record. It is also the current wind-legal collegiate lead for 2022 and second fastest in the world this season.

She also ran the fastest 200m in collegiate history with a headwind over 1.7 m/s when she ran 22.38 into a 5.6 m/s headwind at LSU. If wind was accounted for, it would convert to 21.67.

To top off an excellent start to the outdoor season, Steiner ran the second leg in the current second-ranked 4x100m relay in the NCAA this season, helping the team to a time of 42.46.

Steiner closed her indoor season by defending her NCAA title in the 200-meter dash with a 22.16-second run Birmingham, Alabama. It was her second fastest 200m run of her career and second fastest in American history behind her own American-record mark.

It was also the fastest women’s 200m in NCAA Championships meet history and broke the Birmingham CrossPlex facility record.

Steiner earned silver in the 60m with a school-record time of 7.10 at NCAA Indoor Championships, which was the highest Steiner has ever placed in the event on the NCAA stage, in addition to leading the 4x400m to a bronze medal.

Steiner cemented her name in American track & field history on February 26 when she ran the fastest American indoor 200m ever and second fastest in world history at 22.09 seconds to earn the SEC gold. This was her third year in a row winning the 200m SEC gold medal and third time breaking the collegiate record.

She also broke the SEC Championships record, school record, meet record and Gilliam Indoor Stadium record at Texas A&M.

The previous fastest indoor 200m in American history was Gwen Torrence’s 22.33 at the USA Championship in 1996.

The national champion is now .22 away from Jamaican Merlene Ottey’s 21.87 indoor world record.

In the 2021-22 track & field season, Steiner has earned the following accomplishments:

200m American & collegiate indoor record holder (22.09)
Two-time 200m collegiate record breaker
Member of collegiate record outdoor 4x400m relay (3:21.93)
NCAA and SEC 200m title (indoors)
NCAA silver and SEC bronze in the 60m
NCAA 4x400m relay bronze
Fifth fastest 100m runner in collegiate history
Third fastest outdoor 200m runner in collegiate history
SEC Women’s Runner of the Year
SEC Indoor Scholar-Athlete of the Year
USTFCCCA Southeast Region Women’s Runner of the Year
Four-time SEC Women’s Runner of the Week
Five-time USTFCCCA Athlete of the Week
Seven-time school record holder (60m, 100m, indoor 200m, outdoor 200m, 300m, indoor 4x400m, outdoor 4x400m)
Five Bowerman Watchlist appearances

In addition to her 200m gold at SECs, Steiner also won bronze in the 60m with a time of 7.19 and was a member of the bronze medal-winning 4x400m relay (3:25.89) that ran under the previous collegiate record.

At Clemson in February, Steiner broke the 200m collegiate record for the second time in her career and first time this season when she ran 22.37 for an event win, gaining sole possession of the record she used to share with Olympian Gabby Thomas.

Steiner broke the collegiate record in the 200m for the first time at NCAA Championships in 2021 when she tied Thomas’s then-collegiate record of 22.38 for her first national title