Kevkhishvili, Proctor Both on Latest Bowerman Watch List
Wednesday, February 10, 2010 | Track and Field
Florida seniors Mariam Kevkhishvili (Tbilisi, Georgia) and Shara Proctor (The Valley, Anguilla) each are listed on the latest watch list for The Bowerman, track and field's highest honor, as announced Tuesday by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.
The Bowerman is named in honor of track and field pioneer Bill Bowerman, who served the sport of track and field in numerous ways, including his leadership in 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.
Kevkhishvili is the national leader in the women's shot put this season with a personal-best and school-record toss of 18.56m/60-10.75, recorded at the Virginia Tech Elite Meet this past weekend. She is one of only two athletes in the nation so far this season to have recorded an NCAA automatic-qualifying mark in the women's shot put and has thrown better than 18 meters in each of her three competitions this season. She was named the Southeastern Conference Female Field Athlete of the Week on Jan. 19.
Kevkhishvili, who has won 10 consecutive indoor shot put competitions dating back to the 2008 season, on Saturday defeated postcollegian Cleopatra Borel, a two-time Olympian and the 2007 NACAC women's shot put champion. Kevkhishvili is a three-time NCAA Champion and a six-time All-American in the women's shot put. She holds the SEC meet record in both the indoor and outdoor women's shot put.
A 2004 and 2008 Olympian for her home country of Georgia, Kevkhishvili has captured back-to-back NCAA indoor championship shot put crowns, making her just the fourth woman in NCAA history to accomplish that feat. She holds the Georgian National Record in the shot put.
Proctor is the national leader in both the women's long jump and triple jump, recording each of those marks this past weekend at the Virginia Tech Elite Meet. She won the long jump with a nation-leading mark of 6.67m/21-10.75, which went down as the 12th-best women's long jump in collegiate history and set a new Rector Field House record. Proctor then won the triple jump event with a personal-best leap of 13.88m/45-6.60, breaking a nearly 18-year-old school record of 13.40m/43-11.75 set in 1992. It goes down as the eight-best women's triple jump mark in collegiate history.
Proctor is a four-time SEC Champion and a four-time All-America selection who holds Florida's indoor school records in both the long jump and triple jump, and also holds the Anguillan National Record in those two events. Proctor finished sixth in the women's long jump at the IAAF World Championships in Athletics this past summer in Berlin, Germany, with a mark of 6.71m/22-0.25.
Proctor is a two-time SEC Female Field Athlete of the Week selection this season.
The 10 listed represent 11 collegiate leading marks from the 2010 season, one current world and American leader, and three national records.
The Bowerman Advisory Board appointed four of its members to comprise The Bowerman Men's Watch Committee and another four of its members to make up The Bowerman Women's Watch Committee. The committee will release its next update on Tuesday, March 2, 10 days before the start of the NCAA Indoor Championships.
The three men and three women finalists will be named on June 15.
For more information on The Bowerman, the award, the recently-debuted trophy, and Bill Bowerman himself, visit TheBowerman.org. Keep up with Bowerman candidates on the USTFCCCA's weekly results page (http://www.ustfccca.org/weekly-results) and by following the organization's twitter feed twitter.com/TheBowerman.
For all of the latest information on Florida track and field, log on to www.GatorZone.com/trackfield or follow the team's Twitter page @GZTrackField at www.twitter.com/GZTrackField.
THE BOWERMAN WATCHLIST (FEB. 9)
? Jessica Beard, Texas A&M
? Queen Harrison, Virginia Tech
? Amber Kaufman, Hawaii
? Mariam Kevkhishvili, Florida
? Porscha Lucas, Texas A&M
? Liz Patterson, Arizona
? Shara Proctor, Florida
? Sheila Reid, Villanova
? Alicia Rue, Minnesota
? Brianne Theisen, Oregon
END OF REPORT
