The Bowerman: 2026 Women’s Watch List, Update #1

NEW ORLEANS – It’s early in the season but it’s also usually positive to be included on Update #1 to The Bowerman’s Women’s Watch List, which was announced Wednesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).

Since Watch Lists began in 2010, only two of the eventual women’s winners of The Bowerman have not been included on this update to the Watch List. That’s 13 of the last 15 award winners, with only Sha’Carri Richardson (2019) and Courtney Okolo (2016) not meeting that distinction.

This Watch List has three new names in 2026, including two making career debuts – Sanu Jallow-Lockhart of Arkansas and Wilma Nielsen of Oregon. Juliette Whittaker of Stanford returns to the list for the first time this year, joining seven from the Preseason edition: JaMeesia Ford of South Carolina, Jane Hedengren of BYU, Axelina Johansson of Nebraska, Pamela Kosgei of New Mexico, 2025 winner Doris Lemngole of Alabama, Amanda Moll of Washington and Hana Moll of Washington.

The Bowerman 2026 will be awarded in December at the USTFCCCA Convention in Grapevine, Texas.

Ford, who hails from Fayetteville, North Carolina, has added two entries to the collegiate all-time 300-meter list – 36.12 and 36.25, rating Nos. =7 and 10 among performances (she now has four of the top-10 in her career, topped by a 35.83 from two seasons ago that remains No. 2 all-time). Also this winter she ran her first collegiate 60-meter race, clocking 7.29, and anchored South Carolina’s 4×400 with a 51.28 split to a time of 3:27.78, the season’s No. 3 collegiate mark. Ford is the active career leader in women’s Watch List appearances with 14.

Hedengren, who hails from Provo, Utah, followed up her indoor Collegiate Record 14:44.79 in the 5000 from December with the No. 2 entry all-time in the 3000, taking third in the Millrose Games in 8:34.98. Her indoor season also includes another impressive performance, anchoring BYU’s distance medley relay team on their home track in Provo to a time of 10:41.85 – faster than the CR of 10:42.05 but not eligible for record consideration as the track was oversized. This is Hedengren’s second appearance on the Watch List.

Jallow-Lockhart, who hails from Charlotte, North Carolina, is undefeated in two races as her winter kicked off with a CR 1:24.19 in the 600 meters, chopping almost a full second off the 1:25.16 set by Britton Wilson in 2023, the year she was a finalist for The Bowerman. She also won the 800 at the Razorback Invitational in 2:01.55 before clocking a 51.86 second-leg split on Arkansas’ 4×400 that ran 3:27.73, the season’s No. 2 collegiate mark. She is the 16th woman from Arkansas to make the women’s Watch List as the Razorbacks trail only Oregon’s 20 in that compilation.

Johansson, who hails from Hok, Sweden, has competed just once this winter, but in that meet she raised the indoor shot put CR three times in December’s Husker Holiday Open, ultimately to 19.72m (64-8½). Her five fair throws in the meet all rate among the top-7 in collegiate indoor history, and she owns seven of the top-10 all-time including previous seasons – all at or farther than 19.30m (63-4). The defending NCAA DI Indoor champ, she also won the 2023 DI Outdoor title and rates No. 4 all-time outdoors at 19.54m (64-1¼). This is her sixth career Watch List appearance.

Kosgei, who hails from Elgeyo-Marakwet County, Kenya, has competed just once this winter, clocking 15:05.41 for 5000 in December’s Sharon Colyear-Danville Opener. She swept the 5k and 10k at last year’s NCAA DI Outdoor Championships and rates high on three outdoor all-time collegiate lists from her freshman season last year – No. 2 in the 5000 (14:52.45) and No. 3 in the steeplechase (9:15.93) and 10,000 (31:02.73). This is her sixth career Watch List appearance.

Lemngole, who hails from West Pokot County, Kenya, is much faster than she was at this point last year, which saw her in December hoisting The Bowerman. On Sunday she won the 3000 at the Millrose Games in 8:31.39, lowering the CR by more than three seconds – and more than 10 seconds faster than she ran last year. In her only other indoor race this year she took more than four seconds off of her mile PR with a 4:32.69 showing one week before Millrose. Recall that outdoors she dominates the collegiate steeple all-time list, topped by a CR 8:58.15 last year. This is her 10th career Watch List appearance.

Amanda and Hana Moll, who hail from Olympia, Washington, are the only siblings – let alone identical twins – to make the same Watch List, and they do so now for a fourth time. In the 2026 debut for each, Hana took the spotlight on their home runway at the Washington Invitational with a clearance of 4.88m (16-0¼) to become No. 2 collegian all-time. Amanda, the CR holder at 4.91m/16-1¼ from last year, cleared 4.43m (14-6¼) for fourth in that meet. Last year they combined to win both NCAA titles and finish the season as CR holders (Amanda indoors, Hana outdoors in both cases). Individually, Amanda continues to lead in career Watch List appearances, eight to six.

Nielsen, who hails from Gothenburg, Sweden, found mile racing to her liking in New York City, specifically at The Armory. A week after winning the Dr. Sander Scorcher in 4:26.74, the reigning NCAA Indoor mile champion improved by more than three seconds at the Millrose Games with a time of 4:23.56 to become No. 2 collegian all-time – just 0.10 seconds off the CR (and Oregon program record) held by teammate Silan Ayyildiz at 4:23.46 from last year. Nielsen’s en route 1500-meter time of 4:05.94 at Millrose was also No. 2 all-time (Ayyildiz set the CR of 4:05.66 last year). Nielsen is the 20th woman from Oregon to make the women’s watch list, improving the Ducks’ lead in that category.

Whittaker, who hails from Laurel, Maryland, has been at or near PR level in all three of her races this winter. She won the 1000 meters in 2:37.54 on The Dempsey’s oversized track in the Washington Preview to become No. 2 on the all-time, all-conditions collegiate list. She moved to No. 4 all-time collegiately in the 600 meters at Millrose with a runner-up 1:25.64 clocking, which came two days after missing her mile PR by 0.05 seconds in 4:30.97 at Boston University’s John Thomas Terrier Classic. Whittaker swept the indoor and outdoor 800 NCAA DI titles in 2024 and has bests of 1:59.53 indoors and 1:57.76 outdoors in that event, the latter from making the Paris Olympic final. This is her sixth career Watch List appearance.

Five athletes received votes from The Bowerman Advisory Board but lacked enough to make this Watch List: Temitope Adeshina of Texas Tech, Silan Ayyildiz of Oregon, Gladys Chepngetich of Clemson, Alyssa Jones of Stanford and Hayley Kitching of Penn State.

The next women’s Watch List is scheduled for March 4.