NEW ORLEANS – The U.S. Track & Field and Cross-Country Coaches Association announced the 2026 induction class for the Collegiate Track & Field/Cross Country Athlete Hall of Fame on Wednesday, which includes Tiger alum Dawn Sowell. The class of 12 will be enshrined on Sunday, June 7, at the Hult Center for the Performing Arts in Eugene, Ore.
This year’s class features some of the greatest names in collegiate track & field and cross-country history. With 44 national collegiate titles, 37 collegiate records, five Olympic/World Championships medals, and seven world records while in college, these athletes have left an indelible mark on the sports.
The Collegiate Athlete Hall of Fame was established in 2022 to honor the best of the best in collegiate track & field and cross country. The Hall of Fame recognizes the achievements of athletes who have left a lasting mark on the sport during their time in college.
Sowell had an astonishing senior season with the Tigers in 1989 as she won the 55 meter and 200-meter NCAA titles indoors, as well as the 100 meter and 200m national titles outdoors. Not only did she win all four individual titles that year, but she also helped the indoor 4×400-meter relay and outdoor 4×100-meter relay teams to gold, tallying six titles in one year to go with her six SEC titles.
The Pennsylvania native set collegiate and/or American records five times that year, to go along with a world record.
Sowell set the collegiate record of 10.78 seconds in the heats of the 1989 NCAA Outdoor Championships, which stood 30 years until fellow LSU Tiger Sha’Carri Richardson broke it in 2019. The time of 10.78 made her the third-fastest sprinter ever for the 100m, the time of 10.78 currently ranks 19th, 30 years later. She later went on to claim the USA title in the 100m that season.
In the outdoor 200m, Sowell clocked a time of 22.04 seconds to make her the third-fastest ever in the event at the time, much like she did in the 100m. The time sits second in LSU history currently but stood as the program record for over 30 years. Indoors, she set the American-indoor record of 22.87 seconds.
Sowell also set the American record in the 60 meter with 7.16 seconds and in the 4×200-meter relay (1:32.57) with the team of Tananjalyn Stanley, Sylvia Brydson and Esther Jones.
Sowell helped the women’s 4×400, alongside Cherly Wilson, Opal Cunningham, and Sylvia Brydson, set the world record of 3:33.98 indoors in 1989 as well.
The magnificent season saw Sowell take home the prestigious 1989 SEC Commissioner’s Trophy, scoring 22.50 points as she won the 100m, 200m and 4×100 for the Tigers. She also ranks tied for third in LSU history with six total national titles. Her one-year stint was tremendous help to the Tigers as they won the indoor and outdoor NCAA team titles that season and made her part of the Decade of Dominance when the Tigers claimed 10 straight outdoor titles.
She joins Class of 2024 member, Glenn Hardin, who was the first and only Tiger in the athlete edition of the USTFCCCA Hall of Fame
The USTFCCCA Hall of Fame Class of 2026:
Earl Bell, Arkansas State
John Carlos, San Jose State
Gail Devers, UCLA
Paul Ereng, Virginia
John Godina, UCLA
Carol Lewis, Houston
Earl McCullouch, USC
Dave Patrick, Villanova
Candice Scott, Florida
Dawn Sowell, LSU
Delisa Walton, Tennessee
Leann Warren, Oregon
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