By Paul Hof-Mahoney
January 15, 2025
When the men’s preseason watchlist for The Bowerman was released last Thursday, one thing stood out immediately: there were three throwers on the list. That’s major for an event group that has never won the highest honor in collegiate track and field (despite his throwing prowess, Leo Neugebauer doesn’t really count). If there’s a year that all changes though, it might just be in 2025, because the NCAA hasn’t seen a thrower quite like Mykolas Alekna since The Bowerman was first awarded in 2009.
Alekna’s freshman and sophomore years at Cal were legendary—he recorded 12 of the 15 best throws in collegiate history—but somewhat incomplete. He finished second and third at NCAAs in 2022 and 2023, respectively. He opted to redshirt last year, and he made the most of it. His worst performance of the year still produced a mark that only two other collegians have ever managed to better, and he also broke the 37-year-old world record by nearly a full foot.
It’s one of this sport’s most insane stats that Alekna has picked up the WR alongside three global and two European medals before winning his first NCAA title. But the odds suggest he’s more than likely to finally add one to his mantle now that he’s proven his worst day can still be better than basically anyone else in college history. And if he can take home that title—or even reset his own world record—it will be fascinating to see how The Bowerman voters handle his case.
Of the 30 winners in the history of The Bowerman, Sha’Carri Richardson in 2019 is the only athlete to take home the award having won only one national title, but she also had the benefit of runner-up finishes in the 200m and 4x100m, and toppled a 30-year-old collegiate record in the sport’s premier event. More than anything, Bowerman voters seem to prioritize racking up big points at national championships, and therefore makes it absurdly difficult for single-event superstars like Alekna to get the recognition they deserve. Now imagine you’re in an event without an indoor equivalent such as discus or javelin!
So this begs the question: what would Alekna need to do to become the first thrower and the first single-event specialist to win The Bowerman? Winning the NCAA title is an obvious one to knock off the list, but even if he does, his big weakness might be his prior greatness. If he hadn’t already shattered the collegiate record several times over and scattered his name across the all-time lists, he’d be seen as barrier-breaking—not just Mykolas being Mykolas. Instead, he’ll probably put together the greatest discus season in NCAA history and it’ll be received as old news… because a world record holder is supposed to be that much better than everyone else.
Courtesy University of California Athletics
There are parallels between the “Mykolas Alekna for The Bowerman” conversation and other big awards on the pro level. Alekna is basically the NCAA version of 2024 Mondo Duplantis, who won everything there was to win and broke his own world record three times. Duplantis was as dominant as an athlete could possibly be, yet lost Athlete of the Year to Letsile Tebogo, who had a more diverse portfolio of achievements that included Olympic 200m gold, 4x400m silver, and a world best in the 300m.
How are we supposed to compare a sprinter that could race in five or more NCAA finals or a distance runner with three championships to contest to a thrower who only competes in one? How do you weigh total bodies of work when there’s so much variance from event group to event group? World Athletics’s solution is to hand out a bunch of secondary awards alongside Athlete of the Year, but that’s still only partially solving the problem.
Awarding a Bowerman for track and a Bowerman for field is an option, but it’ll only reinforce the idea that there’s the “real Bowerman” and the “field Bowerman.” Instead, the USTFCCCA should keep The Bowerman available to all events, and introduce two new awards: one recognizing the team MVP—the athlete who accrues the most points at national championships throughout the year—and one honoring the single greatest performance.
The championship award (call it The Cheserek or The Holloway?) could still include some subjectivity, giving different weight for individual versus relay points or truly audacious event schedules. The performance award (The Ross? The Mu?) would allow for single-event specialists to have their moment.
And ultimately, having more wealth to spread could help selectors look beyond sheer number of collegiate titles or All-American appearances from being a determining factor in The Bowerman. It wouldn’t lead to a redefining of greatness overnight, but it would help honor a wider range of excellence. And in those unique years where we have an athlete that has a season Mykolas Alekna to have in 2025, they’re not almost immediately ruled out of true contention by nature of the event they compete in.
Paul Hof-Mahoney
Paul is currently a student at the University of Florida (Go Gators) and is incredibly excited to be making his way into the track and field scene. He loves getting the opportunity to showcase the fascinating storylines that build up year-over-year across all events (but especially the throws).
