The Bowerman: 2026 Women’s Watch List, Update #4

NEW ORLEANS – One would think that five weeks of activity would generate a lot of change in Update No. 4 of The Bowerman’s Women’s Watch List, which was released on Wednesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).

But there’s only one new name appearing on this version despite the last five weeks producing seven performances that rate among the collegiate all-time top two, with three being Collegiate Records.

The new addition is not really new as Pamela Kosgei of New Mexico – a finalist for last year’s award – rejoins the Watch List after not receiving enough votes to make the last version. She joins Temitope Adeshina of Texas Tech, Gladys Chepngetich of Clemson, Jane Hedengren of BYU, Adaejah Hodge of Georgia, Axelina Johansson of Nebraska, 2025 winner Doris Lemngole of Alabama, Hana Moll of Washington, Anthonett Nabwe of Minnesota and Wilma Nielsen of Oregon.

Conference-wise, the Big Ten maintains its lead with four athletes as no other conference has more than two.

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

Adeshina, who hails from Offa Town, Nigeria, has competed once thus far this outdoor season, winning the high jump at the Mt. SAC Relays at 1.95m (6-4¾) that included her first career victory over Vashti Cunningham, a 16-time USATF champion. Adeshina is undefeated in the high jump this year, with her highest effort of 1.97m (6-5½) giving her a second-straight NCAA DI Indoor title in March. That has her tied for No. 5 on the all-time collegiate indoor list, and she’s tied for No. 4 on the outdoor version with her 1.97m/6-5½ clearance from last year. This is her fourth career Watch List appearance.

Chepngetich, who hails from Eldoret, Kenya, has run in four races thus far this outdoor season – with two of her most impressive performances coming on the same weekend in different meets. She won the 800 – her lone individual race this spring – in 2:00.67 at the Wake Forest Invitational on Thursday, then flew to Gainesville to anchor Clemson’s third-place 4×400 team on Saturday at the Tom Jones Memorial with a 51.81 split. Indoors, she won a stellar 800 meters at the NCAA DI Indoor Championships that included three of history’s five fastest indoor collegians, not to mention two previous champions. Earlier in the season she clocked 1:58.81, second only among collegians to 2021 The Bowerman winner Athing Mu. This is her second Watch List appearance.

Hedengren, who hails from Provo, Utah, has run in two races thus far outdoors – she won both of them with collegiate records that had been set by 2024 The Bowerman winner Parker Valby. First was a debut in the 10,000 meters at the Stanford Invitational, where Hedengren took more than three seconds off the CR with a time of 30:46.80. Two weeks later she won the 5000 at the Bryan Clay Invitational in 14:50.50, shaving 1.68 seconds off Valby’s CR. Indoors she became the first freshman to sweep the 5000- and 3000-meter titles at the NCAA DI Indoor Championships, with the latter victory coming in a meet-record time of 8:36.61. She is the only woman to rate top-3 all-time collegiately in the mile, 3000 and 5000 – she opened with a CR 14:44.79 in the 5k before reaching No. 2 in the 3k (8:34.98) and No. 3 in the mile (4:22.22). She also anchored BYU’s distance medley relay team this winter to a time of 10:41.85 – faster than the indoor CR of 10:42.05 but not eligible for record consideration as the track was oversized. This is her fifth appearance on the Watch List.

Hodge, who hails from Douglasville, Georgia, by way of the British Virgin Islands, is undefeated this outdoor season. Her most recent performance came in winning the 100 at the Tom Jones Memorial in 10.77, just 0.02 seconds off the CR in tying the No. 2 performance all-time collegiately. She preceded that a week earlier with a dominating victory in the 200 at the Spec Towns Invitational in 22.10, moving to No. 10 on the all-time collegiate list. She opened the season with a PR 51.24 to win the 400 at the Hurricane Collegiate Invitational. Indoors she won the 200 meters at the NCAA DI Indoor Championships, completing an undefeated season in the event while moving to No. 4 all-time collegiately at 22.22. She added a runner-up finish in the 60 after a PR 7.12 in the prelims. This is her second appearance on the Watch List.

Johansson, who hails from Hok, Sweden, is undefeated against collegians in the shot put this year. She’s only competed in the event once outdoors thus far, moving to No. 3 all-time collegiate at 19.62m (64-4½) – that was also the No. 5 collegiate performance all-time and she added the No. 8 in the same series at 19.51m (64-0¼). Indoors she finished with a bronze medal at the World Indoor Championships, hitting 19.75m (64-9 ¾) for her fourth raising of the indoor CR since December (she dominates the indoor all-time list with eight of the top-10 entries, all from this year). This is her ninth career Watch List appearance.

Kosgei, who hails from Elgeyo-Marakwet County, Kenya, was the second collegian in her only two races this spring, finishing behind Hedengren on both occasions. In the Stanford 10,000, her runner-up time of 30:49.99 was also under the former CR of 2024 The Bowerman winner Valby, while her 15:03.09 in the Bryan Clay 5000 has her No. 2 on the seasonal list (her best of 14:52.45 from last year makes her the No. 3 collegian all-time). She has yet to run the steeplechase this year (she’s No. 3 all-time collegiately at 9:15.93 from last year). Indoors she finished second and third, respectively, in the 3000 and 5000 at the NCAA DI Indoor after winning both at the Mountain West Championships with high-altitude all-time collegiate bests of 15:32.15 and 8:58.58, respectively. This is her eighth career Watch List appearance.

Lemngole, who hails from West Pokot County, Kenya, has yet to compete this spring. She was runner-up in the 5000 meters at the NCAA DI Indoor Championships. A foot injury forced her to withdraw from the 3000, in which she set the CR of 8:31.39 while winning the Millrose Games earlier this year. Recall that outdoors she dominates the collegiate steeple all-time list, topped by a CR 8:58.15 last year en route to being awarded The Bowerman, an award no man or woman has won twice. This is her 13th career Watch List appearance.

Moll, who hails from Olympia, Washington, has competed once thus far this spring, adding to her 2026 winning streak in the pole vault with an outdoor CR-clearance of 4.80m (15-9). That broke the 4.79m/15-8½ she cleared in winning last year’s NCAA DI Outdoor Championships. In the winter she twice raised the meet record (ultimately to 4.82m/15-9¾) while winning her first NCAA DI Indoor title since 2024. She has two of the top-4 performances in indoor collegiate history led by performance earlier in the year at 4.88m (16-0¼) in becoming just the second collegian ever to sail over 16-feet. This is her ninth career Watch List appearance.

Nabwe, who hails from Jamestown, North Dakota, by way of Liberia, came oh-so-close to a CR as the top collegian in the hammer throw at the Drake Relays, hitting 77.64m (254-8). That’s just 3cm shy of the 77.67m/254-9 CR established by Camryn Rogers, a finalist for The Bowerman in 2022. Nabwe has three entries in the all-time collegiate top-10 performance list (which was all-Rogers prior to this year) with heaves of 75.72m/248-5 and 75.22m/246-9 rating Nos. 6 and 8, respectively. She is also No. 5 on the seasonal discus list at 59.58m/195-6. Indoors she won the weight throw title at the NCAA DI Indoor Championships with a PR of 25.13m (82-5¼) to move to No. 3 all-time collegiately while avenging her only loss of the season. This is her second appearance on the Watch List.

Nielsen, who hails from Gothenburg, Sweden, has yet to compete this spring. Indoors she won her second-straight NCAA DI Indoor title in 4:40.06 with a potent 28.48 last 200 meters. She was also successful in fast races, clocking 4:23.56 at the Millrose Games in early February to become the then-No. 2 collegian all-time; two weeks later she dropped her best to 4:21.04 while improving her No. 2 position all-time as she also set the 1500 CR of 4:01.60 en route. A day before her NCAA DI mile title she anchored Oregon’s distance medley relay team to the DI title in 10:48.76. This is her third Watch List appearance.

Six athletes received votes from the Advisory Board but lacked enough to make this Watch List: Salma Elbadra of South Carolina, JaMeesia Ford of South Carolina, Alyssa Jones of Stanford, Rosemary Longisa of Washington State, Aaliyah McCormick of Oregon and Shenese Walker of Florida State. Longisa won the 1500 at the Bryan Clay Invitational in 4:02.55, the closest any collegian has come to the CR 3:59.90 set by Jenny Simpson (then Barringer) in 2009, a year that ended with her hoisting the very first The Bowerman. The next women’s Watch List is scheduled for May 20.