The Bowerman Award Finalists Reflect On Momentous And Record-Setting Achievements In 2024

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

Photos by Logan Hannigan-Downs and Kim Spir

ORLANDO -- College track and field's biggest awards ceremony will focus on the incredible achievements of six NCAA champions, five of whom competed at the Paris Olympic Games. 

The 15th edition of The Bowerman Presentation begins at 6:30 p.m. at the JW Marriott Grande Lakes in Orlando, Fla. and will be shown live on RunnerSpace. 

The six finalists made their way into the hotel at the USTFCCCA Convention on Wednesday. 

Here is a closer look at the six finalists for this year's awards. 

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Leo Neugebauer, Texas 

After breaking his own collegiate record in the decathlon at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene with a total of 8,961 points, Neugebauer continued his season at the Olympic Games, representing his home nation of Germany, and earned a silver medal. 

Neugebauer is the fifth male athlete to be finalist for the Bowerman Award for a second straight year. 

"It's definitely the goal to win this thing," Neugebauer said of the Bowerman. "That's what we're here for and I'm glad that I get an opportunity to come back and try for it again. Whoever wins, wins. I hope it's me, but I'm just enjoying it and taking it in for the last time."

Beyond his NCAA indoor and outdoor titles, Neugebauer's big goal was to make the podium at the Olympic Games. 

He's the only finalist this year with a medal. He scored 8,748 points in Paris. 

"I'm super happy how the season went," Neugebauer said. "To lock into a goal and achieve it, it's amazing."

The year prior, he had gone into the World Championships at Budapest and come away fourth. 

Neugebauer is back to training in Austin, Texas and looking forward to incremental progress in 2025. 

"It's hard to set a certain point goal," he said. "I just want to keep improving myself a little bit and the next improvement of my PB could be 9,000 points and the world record isn't far beyond that."

Christopher Morales-Williams, Georgia

Before Christopher Morales-Williams stunned the track and field community with his all-time world best in the 400 meters at the SEC Indoor Championships, 44.49 seconds on Feb. 24, at the age of 19, he already held a world record.

The avid video game player set a record for Speed run for Zombies on Call of Duty: Cold War back in 2021. 

His video game exploits have taken a back seat to his athletic endeavors, particularly during the breakout year of 2024. But his competitive fire was evident in both. 

When he blitzed the field at the SEC Indoor meet, even Morales-Williams didn't see it coming. 

"Looking back on it, that race changed my life in a really big way. It opened a lot of doors," he said. "It was a complete surprise. I never had that much faith in myself (on the track). It opened my eyes that there's no limit what anyone could do."

Morales-Williams went on to win the NCAA Indoor title in 44.67 seconds and then won the NCAA Outdoor title in 44.47. Earlier, he had broken the Canadian national record when he ran 44.05 at the SEC Outdoor Championships. 

He reached the semifinals at the Olympic Games. 

"This year has been nothing but incredible. One of the best years of my life," Morales-Williams said. 

Now an adidas pro, he continues to train in Athens, Ga. and is a full-time student.

Caleb Dean, Texas Tech

Caleb Dean is the first man in NCAA history to win an indoor 60-meter hurdles title and 400-meter hurdles title in the same year. 

But if he had to pick one, the biggest highlight was at the Indoor Championships, where he not only won the hurdles in 7.56, but also placed sixth in the 60 dash in 6.67 and took a leg on the Red Raiders' fourth-place 4x400 relay team (3:03.37). 

"Indoor was definitely my highlight," Dean said. "Winning my first NCAA title in the 60 hurdles and then I got to celebrate with all my teammates and coaches. It was amazing."

Dean's events contributed 18 points to Texas Tech's total of 50.5 to win the Red Raiders' second national championship in track and field. 

And Dean did that after coming back from a broken foot in the fall of 2023. 

In the outdoor season, he was once again sidelined with an injury. This time a pulled groin muscle threatened his season but he overcame that and ran the second-fastest 400-meter hurdles race in collegiate history, 47.23 seconds to win his second NCAA title.

Dean signed with adidas and is currently living and training in Clermont, Fla. with coach Lance Brauman's professional group. 

"I didn't think I'd be in this position coming into college," Dean said. "Being a Bowerman finalist is a great feeling."

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Parker Valby, Florida

The homegrown Floridian from Tampa dominated collegiate distance running in 2023 and 2024 with six NCAA titles in cross country, indoor and outdoor track and field. 

In 2024, she won the 3,000-5,000 double indoors and the 5,000-10,000 double outdoors, all in meet records. She broke the collegiate record in the 10,000 in her debut at the distance (30:50.43) and later ran that event at the Olympic Games in Paris, where she finished 11th. 

Parker Valby has been massively influential, with an Instagram following of 181,000, but even more so for the way she found success with unconventional training methods. 

Valby struggled with the adjustment to college training and suffered stress fractures in early 2022. 

She famously built herself back into shape and avoided further injury by cross-training, specifically with countless hours on an ARC Trainer cardio machine. 

Valby combined cross-training with her track workouts and achieved so much success that she has changed the way many athletes train. 

In addition to the 10,000 meters record, Valby also owns the 5,000-meter records indoors and out. 

She expects to have a big group of family and friends at Thursday's ceremony. 

"I've got so many people coming for it," Valby said. "It's going to be a lot of fun."

Valby moved to Boston in October where she is part of the New Balance-Boston training group that includes fellow Olympian Elle Purrier St. Pierre.

Jaida Ross, Oregon

The fifth Oregon female athlete to earn acclaim as a Bowerman Award finalist is also the collegiate record holder in the shot put and the fourth-place finisher at the Olympic Games following an incredible season of improvement. 

Ross became the first woman in collegiate history to break the 20-meter barrier when she threw 20.01m at the NCAA West First Round in late May. 

Upon seeing the mark, Ross fell to her knees with emotion. 

"I remember dropping down and thinking 'I cannot believe I just did that,'" Ross said. 

Already by then, she had the collegiate record and was building up her belief that she belonged on the world stage. The Olympics was her global meet. 

Ross comes from North Medford High in southern Oregon, the same high school that produced high jump legend Dick Fosbury. 

The daughter of a former drug and alcohol counselor, Ross has spent years studying how the brain operates and used some of that training with her extraordinary athletic gifts. 

"I can turn nerves into adrenaline really easily," Ross said. "I've spent a lot of time working on the mental health side of sports."

By reaching Thursday night's Bowerman Award celebration, Ross wants to share her achievements and represent the throwing community. 

"I think it's so validating for me and throwers in general," Ross said. "It's hard to get recognition as a thrower, but I think me being here sets a tone, and it says throwers are successful and do a lot of big things. I'm happy to be here to represent that."

Ross has one indoor season remaining for the Ducks and will complete her master's degree in March. 

Maia Ramsden, Harvard

The Ivy League's first Bowerman Award finalist, Maia Ramsden grew up a citizen of the world. 

Her father worked in foreign affairs for the New Zealand government and that meant living in a variety of locations across the globe, including the Solomon Islands and Ethiopia. 

Her formative years, from ages 11-16 were spent on the Fiji Islands. And that's where her love of track and field took root.

"Coach Fez, my P.E. teacher, had an amazing approach," Ramsden recalled. "We played touch rugby every Friday and we did sprints on the sand. He would tell me 'You're going to be good at this sport but you don't have to be everything you're going to be this year.'"

Ramsden became one of the best young prospects in New Zealand before making the leap to college in the U.S. and enrolling at Harvard.

Her NCAA career began with cross country in 2021 and concluded with a 110th place finish at the national championships. 

She won her first Heps title in the indoor mile three months later and was on her way after that. 

"I had no idea this is the way it was going to pan out," Ramsden said on the eve of the Bowerman Awards. 

In 2024, she became the first woman to win the NCAA Indoor title in the mile and the outdoor title in the 1,500 meters since 2010. She is No. 2 all-time collegiately on both lists: the indoor mile at 4:24.83 and the outdoor 1,500 at 4:02.58. 

She also anchored the Harvard women to a collegiate record in the Distance Medley Relay at Penn Relays with an anchor split of 4:21.47.

Ramsden, who has turned pro with the On Athletic Club based in Boulder, Colo., competed in her first Olympic Games and advanced to the semifinals of the 1,500 meters for New Zealand. 

But at the Closing Ceremony, she sought out athletes from a different country. 

"I took a photo with the Fijian team after I saw one of my old coaches," she said.