LSU Gold

Hobbs Named to Bowerman Award Watch List

by Will Stafford (@WillStaffordLSU)
+0
Hobbs Named to Bowerman Award Watch List

BATON ROUGE – LSU junior Aleia Hobbs continues to rake in the awards following her performance at the SEC Relays last weekend as she was named Wednesday among the 10 athletes to the latest Bowerman Award Women’s Watch List as announced by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

Hobbs was named to the Bowerman Award Women’s Watch List after also receiving USTFCCCA Division I Women’s National Athlete of the Week and SEC Women’s Runner of the Week awards on Tuesday.

It marks the third-straight year in which at least one LSU athlete has been selected to the Bowerman Award Watch List as Hobbs follows semifinalist Vernon Norwood in 2015 and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake in 2016. She is the first Lady Tiger to make the women’s list since Kimberlyn Duncan in 2012 and 2013. Duncan won the women’s award with her performance as a college junior in 2012.

Now in its ninth year of existence, The Bowerman is track and field’s equivalent to The Heisman Trophy in college football and is presented annually by the USTFCCCA to the top collegiate athlete in both the men’s and women’s sides. Jarrion Lawson of Arkansas and Courtney Okolo of Texas were the last to take home the award with their performance during the 2016 season.

Hobbs turned in one of the most impressive sprint performances in NCAA history during Saturday’s finale at the SEC Relays as she first stepped onto the track for the 4×100-meter relay in the first event of the day.

She anchored LSU’s women to victory while breaking their own school record and tying Oregon’s collegiate record of 42.12 in the event with Texas A&M finishing well off the pace in second place with a time of 43.01. Hobbs, who ran the anchor leg into a strong headwind on the homestretch at the Bernie Moore Track Stadium, teamed with Mikiah Brisco, Kortnei Johnson and Jada Martin to break their school record of 42.14 set just two weeks before at the Mt. SAC Relays on April 15.

That was just a warm up for Hobbs as she later returned to the track and won the women’s 100 meters with the second-fastest wind-legal time in NCAA history with a personal best of 10.85 (+2.0) to overtake Oregon’s Deajah Stevens (11.00) for the national lead in the event. Hobbs’ 10.85 is the fastest ever by a collegiate sprinter at low-altitude as only the recognized collegiate record of 10.78 by LSU’s Dawn Sowell at the NCAA meet at BYU in 1989 separates the Lady Tiger junior from the top of the NCAA’s all-time rankings.

Her performance outdoors follows an indoor season in which she was crowned the SEC Indoor Champion in the 60-meter dash before lining up in the event at the NCAA Indoor Championships for the first time.

The Bowerman Women’s Watch List (as of May 3)
Name, Year, School, Events
Quanesha Burks, Senior, Alabama, Jumps
Maggie Ewen, Junior, Arizona State, Throws
Aleia Hobbs, Junior, LSU, Sprints
Keturah Orji, Junior, Georgia, Jumps
Raevyn Rogers, Junior, Oregon, Middle Distance
Raven Saunders, Junior, Ole Miss, Throws
Sha’Keela Saunders, Senior, Kentucky, Jumps
Deajah Stevens, Junior, Oregon, Sprints
Ariana Washington, Sophomore, Oregon, Sprints
Kendell Williams, Senior, Georgia, Multi-Events