The University of Mississippi Athletics
Track & Field’s McKenzie Long Named Bowerman Award Semifinalist
6/18/2024 | Track and Field
NEW ORLEANS – Ole Miss track & field three-time NCAA Champion and world 200-meter leader McKenzie Long has been named a semifinalist for The Bowerman Award for 2024, as announced by the award on Tuesday.
The Bowerman – collegiate track & field's version of the Heisman Trophy – began in 2009 and is presented each year to the most outstanding male and female athletes in the nation. The trophy is named after famed Oregon head coach, Bill Bowerman.
Long is only the second Rebel to ever be named a Bowerman semifinalist alongside two-time Olympian Raven Saunders, who was a finalist in 2016 and a semifinalist in 2017. This follows two prior appearances on The Bowerman Watch List on May 15 and May 29, which only joins two such appearances from NCAA Champion Shey Taiwo during the 2022 season, as well as 15 total watch list appearances from Saunders during her career.
Two weeks ago in Oregon for the 2024 NCAA Outdoor Championships, Long won three national titles in a mere 90 minutes to put Ole Miss track & field's sprints group on the map – and capture the hearts and minds of the nation with the story of her perseverance following her mother's death this past indoor season. That single-day performance also earned her USATF Athlete of the Week honors.
Long ran the second leg on Ole Miss' winning 4x100-meter relay team – the first relay title, men or women, in Ole Miss history outdoors – and followed that up with a historic sweep across the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes within the following hour and a half. Her performances helped push Ole Miss to a fifth-place showing, tying the overall program record at an NCAA meet – her fourth top-25 team finish she has been a part of as a Rebel in as many tries.
She is one of 15 women in NCAA Division I history to sweep the 100 and the 200, and one of just six to add on a victory in the 4x100-meter relay. Her victories in the 100 and 200 were the first by any Rebel outdoors, men or women, in events shorter than 800 meters. And among Ole Miss women, her wins were the first indoors or outdoors in events shorter than the 1500-meter or mile.
Long's winning time in the 200-meter dash of 21.83 (+1.0) extended her reign as the world leader for 2024, and it put her No. 2 in collegiate history and into a tie for both No. 10 in U.S. history and No. 24 in world history. She is the lone woman in collegiate history with multiple wind-legal sub-22 times in the 200, and she just missed breaking the collegiate record of 21.80 (+1.3) run by Kentucky's Abby Steiner in 2022. Worldwide this season, Long owns each of the three fastest wind-legal 200-meter times run by women, as well as four of the top-seven.
Her semifinal time in the 100-meter of 10.91 (+0.0) ranks tied for No. 10 in collegiate history and No. 6 on the world list for 2024, making her the lone runner in the world this year with a wind-legal sub-11 time in the 100 and a wind-legal sub-22 time in the 200. And along with relay teammates Akilah Lewis, Gabrielle Matthews and Jahniya Bowers, is part of the No. 5 collegiate relay all time with their semifinal performance of 42.22.
At the conference meet, Long ran the second leg on Ole Miss' silver medal 4x100-meter relay and repeated as the SEC champion in the women's 200-meter dash at a then world-leading and SEC meet record wind-legal PR of 22.03 (+0.6). Long was the first repeat champion in the SEC women's 200-meter since LSU's Kimberlyn Duncan, who won three in a row from 2011-13. In that same timespan, no school repeated as champion, let alone the same athlete. Long won by a margin of 0.08 over a stacked field that included three NCAA Champions from this past indoor season. For her efforts at SECs, Long was named the USTFCCCA National Athlete of the Week – the first Rebel honoree during the outdoor season in Ole Miss history.
Long also had a productive indoor season in 2024, finishing as NCAA runner-up and the SEC bronze medalist in the 200-meter – helping push the Rebel women to a record fifth-place showing at NCAAs in Boston back in March.
In just two seasons at Ole Miss, Long – a native of Ironton, Ohio – ends her career as one of the best Rebels of all time as a three-time NCAA Champion, two-time NCAA runner-up, eight-time All-American (seven First-Team), nine-time NCAA qualifier (all at Ole Miss), two-time SEC Champion and six-time SEC medalist with six school records, 45.5 career NCAA points and 47.5 career SEC points scored.
Long also was the 2024 SEC Indoor Scholar-Athlete of the Year, and is working toward her second master's degree – this time in public health – after completing her previous master's in criminal justice at Ole Miss in 2023 and her bachelor's in psychology and communications at NC State in 2022.
Women's Bowerman Award finalists will be unveiled next Monday, June 24. The winners of The Bowerman will be announced in December at the USTFCCCA Coaches Convention.
Long will be one of several Rebels running for a chance to represent Team USA at this summer's Olympic Games in Paris at the U.S. Olympic Trials, held back at Oregon's Hayward Field from June 21-30.
The Bowerman 2024
Women's Semifinalists – June 18
Jasmine Jones, Southern California (Sprints/Hurdles)
Doris Lemngole, Alabama (Distance)
McKenzie Long, Ole Miss (Sprints)
Rhema Otabor, Nebraska (Javelin)
Nickisha Pryce, Arkansas (Sprints)
Maia Ramsden, Harvard (Mid-Distance/Distance)
Jaida Ross, Oregon (Throws)
Ackelia Smith, Texas (Jumps)
Parker Valby, Florida (Distance)
Juliette Whittaker, Stanford (Mid-Distance)
Collegiate Women's Outdoor 200-Meter • All-Time Top-10 (Wind-Legal)
1. Abby Steiner, Kentucky – 21.80 (+1.3) – June 11, 2022
2. McKenzie Long, Ole Miss – 21.83 (+1.0) – June 8, 2024
3. Julien Alfred, Texas – 21.91 (+1.8) – April 14, 2023
4. Favour Ofili, LSU – 21.96 (+1.3) – April 15, 2022
5. Kyra Jefferson, Florida – 22.02 (+1.1) – June 10, 2017
6. Dawn Sowell, LSU – 22.04a (+0.7) – June 2, 1989
7. JaMeesia Ford, South Carolina – 22.08 (+1.0) – June 8, 2024
8. Latasha Smith, UCF – 22.09 (+1.4) – May 12, 2023
8. Deajah Stevens, Oregon – 22.09 (+1.5) – May 14, 2017
10. Cambrea Sturgis, North Carolina A&T – 22.12 (+0.2) – June 12, 2021
Collegiate Women's Outdoor 100-Meter • All-Time Top-10 (Wind-Legal)
1. Sha'Carri Richardson, LSU – 10.75 (+1.6) – June 8, 2019
2. Jacious Sears, Tennessee – 10.77 (+1.6) – April 13, 2024
3. Dawn Sowell, LSU – 10.78a (+1.0) – June 3, 1989
4. Julien Alfred, Texas – 10.81a (+1.7) – May 14, 2022
5. Aleia Hobbs, LSU – 10.85 (+2.0) – April 29, 2017
6. Rosemary Chukwuma, Texas Tech – 10.88 (+1.2) – May 25, 2024
6. Melissa Jefferson, Coastal Carolina – 10.88 (+1.5) – May 12, 2022
8. TeeTee Terry, USC – 10.89 (+1.3) – May 29, 2021
9. Abby Steiner, Kentucky – 10.90 (+1.0) – June 9, 2022
10. McKenzie Long – 10.91 (+0.0) – June 8, 2024
10. Brianna Lyston, LSU – 10.91 (+0.3) – May 11, 2024
2024 World Absolute 200-Meter Leaderboard (Wind-Legal)
1. McKenzie Long, United States – 21.83 (+1.0) – June 8
2. Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, United States – 22.07 (-0.3) – May 18
3. Gabby Thomas, United States – 22.08 (+1.2) – March 30
3. JaMeesia Ford, United States – 22.08 (+1.0) – June 8
5. Julien Alfred, Saint Lucia – 22.16 – Feb. 2 (Indoor)
6. Thelma Davies, United States – 22.17 (+0.6) – May 11
7. Jadyn Mays, United States – 22.19 (++1.0) – June 8
8. Tamara Clark, United States – 22.21 (+1.2) – March 30
9. Jayla Jamison, United States – 22.26 (+1.0) – June 8
10. Kaila Jackson, United States – 22.28 (+0.1) – May 23
2024 World Absolute 100-Meter Leaderboard (Wind-Legal)
1. Jacious Sears, United States – 10.77 (+1.6) – April 13
2. Julien Alfred, Saint Lucia – 10.78 (+1.3) – June 1
3. Sha'Carri Richardson, United States – 10.83 (+1.5) – May 25
4. Aleia Hobbs, United States – 10.88 (+0.5) – April 20
4. Rosemary Chukwuma, Nigeria – 10.88 (+1.2) – May 25
6. McKenzie Long, United States – 10.91 (+0.0) – June 6
6. Marie-Josee Ta Lou-Smith, Ivory Coast – 10.91 (+1.1) – May 11
6. Brianna Lyston, Jamaica – 10.91 (+0.3) – May 11
9. Gina Mariam Bass Bittaye, Gambia – 10.93 (+0.5) – May 18
McKenzie Long – Sub-23.00 200-Meter Times as a Rebel
21.83 (+1.0) – June 8, 2024 (NCAA Outdoor Final) – No. 2 Collegiate History
21.88 (+2.5) – June 10, 2023 (NCAA Outdoor Final)
21.95 (+0.3) – June 6, 2024 (NCAA Outdoor Semifinal)
22.03 (+0.6) – May 11, 2024 (SEC Outdoor Final)
22.10 (+0.5) – May 25, 2024 (NCAA East Quarters)
22.13 (+2.9) – May 25, 2023 (NCAA East First Round)
22.18 (+4.1) – April 12, 2024 (Tom Jones Memorial)
22.21 (+2.2) – April 27, 2024 (LSU Invite)
22.31 (+1.8) – April 14, 2023 (Tom Jones Memorial)
22.37 (+0.6) – May 9, 2024 (SEC Outdoor Prelims)
22.38 (+0.9) – June 8, 2023 (NCAA Outdoor Semifinals)
22.39 (+0.0) – May 13, 2023 (SEC Outdoor Final)
22.46 (+2.8) – May 27, 2023 (NCAA East Quarters)
22.48 – March 10, 2023 (NCAA Indoor Semifinals) – Indoor PR, No. 13 Collegiate History
22.51 – March 9, 2024 (NCAA Indoor Final)
22.54 – March 11, 2023 (NCAA Indoor Final)
22.59 (+0.9) – May 23, 2024 (NCAA East First Round)
22.60 – March 8, 2024 (NCAA Indoor Semifinals)
22.60 – Feb. 24, 2024 (SEC Indoor Final)
22.61 (-0.2) – July 9, 2023 (U.S. Outdoor Semifinal)
22.67 – Feb. 25, 2023 (SEC Indoor Final)
22.73 – Feb. 23, 2024 (SEC Indoor Prelims)
22.75 (+2.0) – July 8, 2023 (U.S. Outdoor First Round)
22.82 (-1.9) – May 11, 2023 (SEC Outdoor Prelims)
ABOUT THE BOWERMAN
The Bowerman, which debuted in 2009 and is named after former University of Oregon coach Bill Bowerman, is presented annually by the USTFCCCA to the most outstanding male and female NCAA track & field athletes in the nation.
Past winners also include two-time Olympic decathlon gold medalist and five-time World Champion Ashton Eaton (2010), 2016 Olympic gold medalist and 2013 100-meter hurdles World Champion Brianna Rollins (2013), three-time World Champion 110-meter/60-meter hurdler Grant Holloway (2019) and 2021 Olympic and 2022 World Championships 800-meter gold medalist Athing Mu (2021).
Bill Bowerman served the sport of track and field in numerous ways. His leadership as president of the USTFCCCA's predecessor organization, the National Collegiate Track Coaches Association, and his contributions to NCAA track and field and the running community as a whole are among his many lasting legacies.
For more information on The Bowerman, the award, the trophy and Bill Bowerman himself, visit TheBowerman.org.
The Bowerman – collegiate track & field's version of the Heisman Trophy – began in 2009 and is presented each year to the most outstanding male and female athletes in the nation. The trophy is named after famed Oregon head coach, Bill Bowerman.
Long is only the second Rebel to ever be named a Bowerman semifinalist alongside two-time Olympian Raven Saunders, who was a finalist in 2016 and a semifinalist in 2017. This follows two prior appearances on The Bowerman Watch List on May 15 and May 29, which only joins two such appearances from NCAA Champion Shey Taiwo during the 2022 season, as well as 15 total watch list appearances from Saunders during her career.
Two weeks ago in Oregon for the 2024 NCAA Outdoor Championships, Long won three national titles in a mere 90 minutes to put Ole Miss track & field's sprints group on the map – and capture the hearts and minds of the nation with the story of her perseverance following her mother's death this past indoor season. That single-day performance also earned her USATF Athlete of the Week honors.
Long ran the second leg on Ole Miss' winning 4x100-meter relay team – the first relay title, men or women, in Ole Miss history outdoors – and followed that up with a historic sweep across the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes within the following hour and a half. Her performances helped push Ole Miss to a fifth-place showing, tying the overall program record at an NCAA meet – her fourth top-25 team finish she has been a part of as a Rebel in as many tries.
She is one of 15 women in NCAA Division I history to sweep the 100 and the 200, and one of just six to add on a victory in the 4x100-meter relay. Her victories in the 100 and 200 were the first by any Rebel outdoors, men or women, in events shorter than 800 meters. And among Ole Miss women, her wins were the first indoors or outdoors in events shorter than the 1500-meter or mile.
Long's winning time in the 200-meter dash of 21.83 (+1.0) extended her reign as the world leader for 2024, and it put her No. 2 in collegiate history and into a tie for both No. 10 in U.S. history and No. 24 in world history. She is the lone woman in collegiate history with multiple wind-legal sub-22 times in the 200, and she just missed breaking the collegiate record of 21.80 (+1.3) run by Kentucky's Abby Steiner in 2022. Worldwide this season, Long owns each of the three fastest wind-legal 200-meter times run by women, as well as four of the top-seven.
Her semifinal time in the 100-meter of 10.91 (+0.0) ranks tied for No. 10 in collegiate history and No. 6 on the world list for 2024, making her the lone runner in the world this year with a wind-legal sub-11 time in the 100 and a wind-legal sub-22 time in the 200. And along with relay teammates Akilah Lewis, Gabrielle Matthews and Jahniya Bowers, is part of the No. 5 collegiate relay all time with their semifinal performance of 42.22.
At the conference meet, Long ran the second leg on Ole Miss' silver medal 4x100-meter relay and repeated as the SEC champion in the women's 200-meter dash at a then world-leading and SEC meet record wind-legal PR of 22.03 (+0.6). Long was the first repeat champion in the SEC women's 200-meter since LSU's Kimberlyn Duncan, who won three in a row from 2011-13. In that same timespan, no school repeated as champion, let alone the same athlete. Long won by a margin of 0.08 over a stacked field that included three NCAA Champions from this past indoor season. For her efforts at SECs, Long was named the USTFCCCA National Athlete of the Week – the first Rebel honoree during the outdoor season in Ole Miss history.
Long also had a productive indoor season in 2024, finishing as NCAA runner-up and the SEC bronze medalist in the 200-meter – helping push the Rebel women to a record fifth-place showing at NCAAs in Boston back in March.
In just two seasons at Ole Miss, Long – a native of Ironton, Ohio – ends her career as one of the best Rebels of all time as a three-time NCAA Champion, two-time NCAA runner-up, eight-time All-American (seven First-Team), nine-time NCAA qualifier (all at Ole Miss), two-time SEC Champion and six-time SEC medalist with six school records, 45.5 career NCAA points and 47.5 career SEC points scored.
Long also was the 2024 SEC Indoor Scholar-Athlete of the Year, and is working toward her second master's degree – this time in public health – after completing her previous master's in criminal justice at Ole Miss in 2023 and her bachelor's in psychology and communications at NC State in 2022.
Women's Bowerman Award finalists will be unveiled next Monday, June 24. The winners of The Bowerman will be announced in December at the USTFCCCA Coaches Convention.
Long will be one of several Rebels running for a chance to represent Team USA at this summer's Olympic Games in Paris at the U.S. Olympic Trials, held back at Oregon's Hayward Field from June 21-30.
The Bowerman 2024
Women's Semifinalists – June 18
Jasmine Jones, Southern California (Sprints/Hurdles)
Doris Lemngole, Alabama (Distance)
McKenzie Long, Ole Miss (Sprints)
Rhema Otabor, Nebraska (Javelin)
Nickisha Pryce, Arkansas (Sprints)
Maia Ramsden, Harvard (Mid-Distance/Distance)
Jaida Ross, Oregon (Throws)
Ackelia Smith, Texas (Jumps)
Parker Valby, Florida (Distance)
Juliette Whittaker, Stanford (Mid-Distance)
Collegiate Women's Outdoor 200-Meter • All-Time Top-10 (Wind-Legal)
1. Abby Steiner, Kentucky – 21.80 (+1.3) – June 11, 2022
2. McKenzie Long, Ole Miss – 21.83 (+1.0) – June 8, 2024
3. Julien Alfred, Texas – 21.91 (+1.8) – April 14, 2023
4. Favour Ofili, LSU – 21.96 (+1.3) – April 15, 2022
5. Kyra Jefferson, Florida – 22.02 (+1.1) – June 10, 2017
6. Dawn Sowell, LSU – 22.04a (+0.7) – June 2, 1989
7. JaMeesia Ford, South Carolina – 22.08 (+1.0) – June 8, 2024
8. Latasha Smith, UCF – 22.09 (+1.4) – May 12, 2023
8. Deajah Stevens, Oregon – 22.09 (+1.5) – May 14, 2017
10. Cambrea Sturgis, North Carolina A&T – 22.12 (+0.2) – June 12, 2021
Collegiate Women's Outdoor 100-Meter • All-Time Top-10 (Wind-Legal)
1. Sha'Carri Richardson, LSU – 10.75 (+1.6) – June 8, 2019
2. Jacious Sears, Tennessee – 10.77 (+1.6) – April 13, 2024
3. Dawn Sowell, LSU – 10.78a (+1.0) – June 3, 1989
4. Julien Alfred, Texas – 10.81a (+1.7) – May 14, 2022
5. Aleia Hobbs, LSU – 10.85 (+2.0) – April 29, 2017
6. Rosemary Chukwuma, Texas Tech – 10.88 (+1.2) – May 25, 2024
6. Melissa Jefferson, Coastal Carolina – 10.88 (+1.5) – May 12, 2022
8. TeeTee Terry, USC – 10.89 (+1.3) – May 29, 2021
9. Abby Steiner, Kentucky – 10.90 (+1.0) – June 9, 2022
10. McKenzie Long – 10.91 (+0.0) – June 8, 2024
10. Brianna Lyston, LSU – 10.91 (+0.3) – May 11, 2024
2024 World Absolute 200-Meter Leaderboard (Wind-Legal)
1. McKenzie Long, United States – 21.83 (+1.0) – June 8
2. Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, United States – 22.07 (-0.3) – May 18
3. Gabby Thomas, United States – 22.08 (+1.2) – March 30
3. JaMeesia Ford, United States – 22.08 (+1.0) – June 8
5. Julien Alfred, Saint Lucia – 22.16 – Feb. 2 (Indoor)
6. Thelma Davies, United States – 22.17 (+0.6) – May 11
7. Jadyn Mays, United States – 22.19 (++1.0) – June 8
8. Tamara Clark, United States – 22.21 (+1.2) – March 30
9. Jayla Jamison, United States – 22.26 (+1.0) – June 8
10. Kaila Jackson, United States – 22.28 (+0.1) – May 23
2024 World Absolute 100-Meter Leaderboard (Wind-Legal)
1. Jacious Sears, United States – 10.77 (+1.6) – April 13
2. Julien Alfred, Saint Lucia – 10.78 (+1.3) – June 1
3. Sha'Carri Richardson, United States – 10.83 (+1.5) – May 25
4. Aleia Hobbs, United States – 10.88 (+0.5) – April 20
4. Rosemary Chukwuma, Nigeria – 10.88 (+1.2) – May 25
6. McKenzie Long, United States – 10.91 (+0.0) – June 6
6. Marie-Josee Ta Lou-Smith, Ivory Coast – 10.91 (+1.1) – May 11
6. Brianna Lyston, Jamaica – 10.91 (+0.3) – May 11
9. Gina Mariam Bass Bittaye, Gambia – 10.93 (+0.5) – May 18
McKenzie Long – Sub-23.00 200-Meter Times as a Rebel
21.83 (+1.0) – June 8, 2024 (NCAA Outdoor Final) – No. 2 Collegiate History
21.88 (+2.5) – June 10, 2023 (NCAA Outdoor Final)
21.95 (+0.3) – June 6, 2024 (NCAA Outdoor Semifinal)
22.03 (+0.6) – May 11, 2024 (SEC Outdoor Final)
22.10 (+0.5) – May 25, 2024 (NCAA East Quarters)
22.13 (+2.9) – May 25, 2023 (NCAA East First Round)
22.18 (+4.1) – April 12, 2024 (Tom Jones Memorial)
22.21 (+2.2) – April 27, 2024 (LSU Invite)
22.31 (+1.8) – April 14, 2023 (Tom Jones Memorial)
22.37 (+0.6) – May 9, 2024 (SEC Outdoor Prelims)
22.38 (+0.9) – June 8, 2023 (NCAA Outdoor Semifinals)
22.39 (+0.0) – May 13, 2023 (SEC Outdoor Final)
22.46 (+2.8) – May 27, 2023 (NCAA East Quarters)
22.48 – March 10, 2023 (NCAA Indoor Semifinals) – Indoor PR, No. 13 Collegiate History
22.51 – March 9, 2024 (NCAA Indoor Final)
22.54 – March 11, 2023 (NCAA Indoor Final)
22.59 (+0.9) – May 23, 2024 (NCAA East First Round)
22.60 – March 8, 2024 (NCAA Indoor Semifinals)
22.60 – Feb. 24, 2024 (SEC Indoor Final)
22.61 (-0.2) – July 9, 2023 (U.S. Outdoor Semifinal)
22.67 – Feb. 25, 2023 (SEC Indoor Final)
22.73 – Feb. 23, 2024 (SEC Indoor Prelims)
22.75 (+2.0) – July 8, 2023 (U.S. Outdoor First Round)
22.82 (-1.9) – May 11, 2023 (SEC Outdoor Prelims)
ABOUT THE BOWERMAN
The Bowerman, which debuted in 2009 and is named after former University of Oregon coach Bill Bowerman, is presented annually by the USTFCCCA to the most outstanding male and female NCAA track & field athletes in the nation.
Past winners also include two-time Olympic decathlon gold medalist and five-time World Champion Ashton Eaton (2010), 2016 Olympic gold medalist and 2013 100-meter hurdles World Champion Brianna Rollins (2013), three-time World Champion 110-meter/60-meter hurdler Grant Holloway (2019) and 2021 Olympic and 2022 World Championships 800-meter gold medalist Athing Mu (2021).
Bill Bowerman served the sport of track and field in numerous ways. His leadership as president of the USTFCCCA's predecessor organization, the National Collegiate Track Coaches Association, and his contributions to NCAA track and field and the running community as a whole are among his many lasting legacies.
For more information on The Bowerman, the award, the trophy and Bill Bowerman himself, visit TheBowerman.org.
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