Kerr Named Bowerman Semifinalist, MW Student-Athlete of the Year
The Bowerman Men’s Semifinalists | MW Outdoor Track & Field Student-Athletes of the Year
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) on Thursday named University of New Mexico track & field student-athlete Josh Kerr as one of 10 male semifinalists for The Bowerman, the highest individual honor in collegiate track & field.
Additionally, the junior from Edinburgh, Scotland, was simultaneously named Mountain West Men’s Outdoor Track & Field Student-Athlete of the Year by the league, marking the second straight season he claimed both honors.
Over the course of the 2018 track & field campaign, Kerr competed as one of the elite middle-distance runners in the NCAA.
In April, Kerr set the NCAA record in the 1500-meter run at the Bryan Clay Invitational, clocking a time of 3 minutes, 35.01 seconds that broke Sydney Maree’s 36-year-old NCAA record of 3:35.30 set at the 1981 NCAA Championships.
His time also broke his own Mountain West and New Mexico record of 3:35.99 set at the 2017 Bryan Clay Invitational.
Between those two races, Kerr owns two of the eight fastest 1500-meter times in NCAA history. He is the only athlete with two times within the all-time top-10.
The 2017 NCAA champion in the 1500, Kerr earned a second straight All-American nod in the event with his third-place performance at the NCAA Outdoor Championships last week in Eugene, Oregon.
During the indoor campaign, he won his second straight national title in the mile run at March’s NCAA Indoor Championships in College Station, Texas.
He is the first male athlete to win back-to-back NCAA mile crowns since former Lobo Lee Emanuel (2009-10) and just the ninth male athlete to win consecutive national championships in the mile run over the 53-year history of the NCAA Indoor Championships.
Kerr also rewrote the record books in February, as he ran a personal-record time of 3:54.72 to place second in the elite Wanamaker Mile at the 2018 NYRR Millrose Games at The New Balance Track & Field Center at The Armory in New York City.
That time makes him the fifth-fastest collegian in the mile run in NCAA history with the sixth-fastest mile time in NCAA history. His time also ranks fifth in the world in 2018.
Kerr is the only athlete in NCAA history to rank top-five in both the 1500 and the mile.
Additionally, Kerr won his second straight Mountain West mile title and anchored UNM’s distance medley relay team to its second consecutive win at the MW Indoor Championships in February, while adding his third straight MW crown in the 1500 at the MW Outdoor Championships earlier in the May.
The honors keep coming in for Josh Kerr!
?? The Bowerman men’s semifinalist
?? Mountain West Men’s Outdoor Track & Field Student-Athlete of the Year! #GoLobos pic.twitter.com/v30xKga1Lk— New Mexico XC/T&F (@UNMLoboXCTF) June 14, 2018
At the MW Indoor Championships, he clocked a raw time of 4:00.62 in the finals, which converts down to a 3:55.38 when the NCAA altitude conversion is applied. That time, although not superior to his season best of 3:54.72, would have still led the NCAA in 2018.
Kerr also anchored New Mexico’s DMR to a nation-leading time of 9:33.41 (9:24.73 converted) that led the NCAA by nearly a full second and set a Mountain West record. That time is superior to the standing NCAA record of 9:25.97 when the altitude conversion is applied; however, the conversion is only used for NCAA qualification, not for official records.
At the MW Outdoor Championships in Clovis, California, he became the first athlete in league history to win back-to-back-to-back 1500-meter titles when he clocked a time of 3:44.69.
Over his career (spanning five MW Championships), Kerr has amassed eight total MW titles.
Additionally, Kerr swept the USTFCCCA Mountain Region Athletes of the Year honors between indoor and outdoor track, becoming just the second athlete since 2010 to accomplish that.
The Bowerman, which debuted in 2009, is presented annually by the USTFCCCA to the most outstanding male and female collegiate track & field athletes in the nation. Performances during the indoor track & field and outdoor track & field seasons count for the award; performances achieved in cross country are not considered.
Kerr is the only New Mexico men’s athlete to earn semifinalist status for The Bowerman. Courtney Frerichs was a women’s semifinalist for The Bowerman in 2016.
The other semifinalists for the men’s Bowerman include Rai Benjamin (USC), Denzel Comenentia (Georgia), Tim Duckworth (Kentucky), Elijah Hall (Houston), Grant Holloway (Florida), Chris Nilsen (South Dakota), Michael Norman (USC), Anderson Peters (Mississippi State), Michael Saruni (UTEP).
Kerr and Holloway were the only semifinalists to appear on all eight watch lists for The Bowerman in 2018.
Three finalists will be selected from among the 10 semifinalists by the USTFCCCA and announced next Thursday, June 21.
The Mountain West Student-Athlete of the Year award recognizes the outstanding male and female athletes in the sport of outdoor track & field. Student-athletes are nominated and selected by the head coaches at each member institution.
This is the fifth time in the last nine years a Lobo has been selected as the MW Men’s Outdoor Student-Athlete of the Year. Peter Callahan shared the honor in 2015, while Luke Caldwell was honored in 2013 and Lee Emanuel in 2010.
Boise State’s Allie Ostrander earned the Women’s Student-Athlete of the Year honor.
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