Abby Steiner wins Honda Sport Award for Track & Field

After a record-breaking performance at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, Abby Steiner has some new hardware to add to her trophy case. Kentucky’s star sprinter was named the winner of the Honda Sport Award for track & field. She was chosen by a vote of administrators from over 1,000 NCAA member schools, beating out Anna Hall (Florida), Jasmine Moore (Florida), and Camryn Rogers (Cal). 

“It’s an incredible honor,” Steiner said this morning in a press conference. “Just seeing all the other girls that I’m surrounded with from different sports and what they’ve been able to accomplish. It’s a really great honor to not only represent track and field but also to be able to represent Kentucky on that national stage. It’s really cool, especially being the fourth woman from Kentucky to receive that award and seeing what all those ladies have accomplished and gone on to accomplish. I’m super excited and really looking forward to being able to represent Kentucky there.”

At the NCAA Championships last Saturday, Steiner won the 200m with a time of 21.80 seconds, a new collegiate record, and brought Kentucky’s 4x400m relay back to win gold with a blistering sub-49 third leg. The same relay set the collegiate record at the SEC Outdoor Championships with a time of 3:21.93. Steiner also won bronze in the 100m (11.08) after setting a personal best and new school record (10.90) in the semifinals. The Kentucky women’s team took home third place at the NCAAs, their first top-four finish since 2018.

“We are so proud of Abby, who is so deserving of this honor bestowed by the Collegiate Women Sports Awards,” Kentucky Track & Field coach Lonnie Greene said. “Abby exemplifies ‘The best of the best in college athletics’ because of her commitment to greatness, not just as a world-class athlete, but also as a top-class person and leader. Abby is a record-breaker, a role model, and a leader. For her to be the first Kentucky Wildcat to win this prestigious award for the sport of track and field is even more of a testament to what a special student-athlete and person she is. Kudos to Abby and her amazing family, as well as Coach Tim Hall and our staff here.”

Steiner is the fourth Kentucky Wildcat to win the Honda Award, joining Madison Lilley, Volleyball (2021) and Jenny Hansen, Gymnastics (1994, 1995, 1996), and Arin Gilliland, Soccer (Inspiration Award, 2014). The winner of the Honda Sport Award becomes a finalist for the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year and the 2022 Honda Cup which will be presented during the live telecast of the Collegiate Women Sports Awards Presented by Honda on CBS Sports Network on June 27, at 9 p.m. ET.

“The Honda Sport Award is one of the most prestigious honors in college athletics so we are unbelievably proud of Abby Steiner for earning this accolade,” Kentucky Director of Athletics Mitch Barnhart said. “Congratulations go out to Abby, her family, coaches, and those who support her. Thank you to the CWSA and the hundreds of voters who selected Abby for this honor. She is a tremendous competitor, hard-worker, and role model. We are lucky to be able to work with Abby. She has an even brighter future and we look forward to seeing what she has in store.” 

Steiner still in the running for The Bowerman Award

Steiner is also on the ten-person watchlist for The Bowerman Award, which takes into consideration both indoor and outdoor seasons. This year’s semifinalists will be announced on June 20 and the finalists on June 27. This is Steiner’s 12th appearance on The Bowerman watch list in her career. She is the seventh UK women’s athlete to make The Bowerman 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 morning, Steiner lit up when asked what it would mean to win The Bowerman Award, the highest honor in the sport.

“Oh my gosh. I would love to go and at least be a top-three finalist and go to that ceremony. I think that’s something that every person who runs track dreams about. That would be amazing, just to be there and hopefully bring all the people that have helped me along the way to celebrate that. I would love to go.”

I’ll have more from Steiner’s press conference later today. If you can’t wait that long, you can watch it all below.