Florida Track & Field's Dendy and Dukes Semifinalists for The Bowerman Award
Monday, June 23, 2014 | Track and Field
BATON ROUGE, La. -- Florida track and field 2014 national champions Marquis Dendy and Dedric Dukes are two of 10 The Bowerman Award semifinalists, announced by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Monday. The Gators now own seven all-time semifinalists for The Bowerman Award, the most in the country.
Known as “the Heisman” of track and field, The Bowerman Award semifinalists are the youngest group of candidates in the award's history with three first-year collegians, a sophomore, five juniors and just one senior. From the youthful group, three finalists will be announced on July 9 before voting – including an online fan vote – opens July 28. The winner of collegiate track & field's highest individual honor will be announced December 17 at the annual U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Convention.
WATCH: Highlights from Dendy's long jump championship
WATCH: Highlights from Dukes & Dendy final day at NCAAs
Dendy, the SEC Champion in the triple jump, swept both the long jump and triple jump titles at the 2014 NCAA Championships in Eugene last week, the first athlete to win both since 2002, while Dukes sped to the 200m crown in a wind-aided 19.91 seconds – the fourth-fastest 200m in NCAA Championships history. Dukes owns the second-fastest 200m in the world this year and was the only collegian to break 20 seconds in the event during the outdoor season, doing so twice.
His wind-legal 19.97 from the Pepsi Florida Relays was the ninth-best 200m performance in collegiate history. Dukes additionally anchored UF's 4x1 to the 2014 national title and was on UF's runner-up 4x4 relay as the Orange and Blue were the NCAA Championships runner-up on the men's side in Oregon. Dukes, Hugh Graham, Jr., Gino Hall and Antwan Wright teamed up to down the American Collegiate Record in the 4x1 at Texas Relays (38.29), while Glass, Graham, Jr., Dukes and Hall ran the third-fastest 4x4 in collegiate history at the Florida Relays, clocking a 2:59.73 to become one of just six collegiate teams to run under three minutes.
The Bowerman Award Semifinalist Complete Release
2014 The Bowerman Men's Semifinalists
| NAME | YEAR | SCHOOL | EVENTS | HOMETOWN |
| Devon Allen | FR | Oregon | Hurdles | Phoenix, Ariz. |
| Trayvon Bromell | FR | Baylor | Sprints | St. Petersburg, Fla. |
| Edward Cheserek | FR | Oregon | Distance | Newark, N.J. |
| Ryan Crouser | JR | Texas | Throws | Gresham, Ore. |
| Marquis Dendy | JR | Florida | Jumps | Middletown, Del. |
| Dedric Dukes | JR | Florida | Sprints | Miami, Fla. |
| Lawi Lalang | SR | Arizona | Distance | Eldoret, Kenya |
| Deon Lendore | JR | Texas A&M | Sprints | Arima, Trinidad & Tobago |
| Brandon McBride | SO | Mississippi State | Distance | Windsor, Ontario |
| Anthony Rotich | JR | UTEP | Distance | Nairobi, Kenya |
