The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
2020 Top Track and Field Performers: Kennedy Simon
05.05.2020 | Track & Field / Cross Country
The sophomore sprinter won her first Big 12 Indoor conference title in 2020.
AUSTIN, Texas – Texas Track and Field sophomore Kennedy Simon was a dynamic performer for the Longhorns in 2020, but shined the brightest in the 400-meter dash during the indoor season. Simon won her first individual Big 12 Indoor conference title and was the NCAA's second-fastest competitor in her signature event this season.
Simon, a three-time All-American, was the fastest competitor in four of the five quarter-mile races she competed in during the 2019-20 Indoor Track and Field season. The first of those came at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Collegiate Invitational in Albuquerque, N.M., where Simon's 52.70 was only the start of an impressive run for the Atlanta native.
Over the next two months, Simon lowered her time by almost 400-meter time by almost a full second. She clocked a 52.20 – the fastest time in the NCAA at that point of the season – at the Razorback Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark. on Feb. 1. Two weeks later, with an NCAA-qualifying mark already secure, Simon's time dipped slightly, as she posted a 52.51 at the Tiger Paw Invitational in Clemson, S.C. over Valentine's weekend. Simon flipped the switch again at the Big 12 Indoor Championships though, clocking 52.45 to lead the field in Friday's preliminary round before dropping a 51.81 to win the conference title on Saturday.
Simon's 51.81 was the No. 2 time in the NCAA and the fifth-fastest in the world during the 2020 Indoor season. She and USC's Bailey Lear were the only collegiate women to break the 52-second mark this year. Historically speaking, Simon's time tied her with Kendall Baisden as the sixth-fastest indoor quarter-miler in Texas history. The names above Simon in UT's 400-meter record book are all former world champions, Olympians and National Athletes of the Year.
Simon also was an instrumental part of Texas' 4x400-meter relay team throughout her sophomore campaign. She helped the Longhorns cap their season with a Big 12 title in the event, as Brooke Jaworski, Stacey Ann Williams, Julien Alfred and Simon teamed up to clock a 3:32.64 en route to the top of the podium.
