The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Vote Okolo for The Bowerman
07.28.2014 | Track & Field / Cross Country
UT sophomore is one of three finalists for the national athlete of the year award
Sophomore Courtney Okolo is one of three finalists for The Bowerman, an award that honors the top NCAA male and female track and field athletes of the year, and fans will have a voice in the decision.
Okolo won a pair of titles at last month's NCAA Outdoor Championships, helping the women's Track and Field team finish second in the team standings. She accounted for 14 of the team's 66 points, tied for the seventh-best individual total in school history at the NCAA Outdoor meet.
The sophomore from Carrollton, Texas, is the second Longhorn to be named a finalist for the award, which was instituted in 2009. Destinee Hooker was a finalist for the inaugural award.
Laura Roesler of Oregon and Sharika Nelvis of Arkansas State are the other finalists.
Voters consist of The Bowerman advisory board (10 members), select media personnel, statisticians, and collegiate administrators. In addition to paper balloting, fans can join in the online vote which begins Monday, July 28 and concludes Tuesday, Aug. 12. The fan vote counts as one ballot. The winner will be announced Dec. 17 at the annual USTFCCCA Convention.
The collegiate record holder in the event, Okolo won the 400 meters at outdoor nationals in 50.23 seconds, tied for the fifth-fastest time in NCAA history. She also ran the anchor leg of the winning 4x400-meter relay that set a meet record in posting the second-fastest time (3:24.21) in NCAA history, and the third leg of the third-place 4x100m relay.
Okolo won a pair of Big 12 outdoor titles in 2014. She broke the collegiate record (50.03) in the 400 and ran the third leg of the victorious 4x100m relay at the league outdoor meet. During the 2014 outdoor season, she ran a leg on three of the top 11 all-time 4x400m performances in NCAA history. She also was the second leg of the runner-up 4x400 relay at the NCAA Indoor Championships with the unit posting the second-fastest time (3:27.42) in collegiate history en route to a runner-up finish in the team standings.
Okolo and Olympic gold medalist Natasha Hastings (formerly of South Carolina) are the only two women to run faster than 50.25 seconds twice outdoors in the 400 during college.
Junior thrower Ryan Crouser, who has won the last three NCAA shot put titles, was a semifinalist for the men's award.