Habtom Samuel Named to Bowerman Watch List

Ahead of next week’s NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, Habtom Samuel has been named to The Bowerman Watch List for the first time in his career, the USTFCCCA announced Thursday.

First awarded in 2009, The Bowerman is bestowed to collegiate track & field’s top male and female athlete for the year, regardless of discipline. The Bowerman Advisory Board, and ultimately, The Bowerman Voters, are instructed to consider performances inclusively from the collegiate indoor track & field and outdoor track & field seasons only.

Samuel is just the second man from New Mexico to be named to the watch list, joining two-time semifinalist Josh Kerr (2017, 2018). Samuel swept the indoor 3,000m and 5,000m Mountain West titles and finished as a First Team All-American in both events at Indoor Nationals — he enters next week’s competition ranked No. 3 in the nation in the 10,000m and No. 2 in the 5,000m after adding two conference outdoor titles in the 1500m and 5,000m three weeks ago.

Samuel made it a clean sweep of the 10,000m and 5,000m with first-place finishes in both semifinals at NCAA First Round Preliminaries in Fayetteville, ensuring he will compete for an individual national title in both at NCAA Outdoor Championships and further solidifying his status as one of the favorites to win it all at Hayward. The only athlete — male or female — to finish as the top runner in both the 5,000m and 10,000m Semifinals that weekend, Samuel’s times in both races were the fastest of all competitors in either Region.

In the 5,000m Semis, Samuel posted the fastest final 400m of the day (1:00.18) to hold off a late challenge from Kansas’ Chandler Gibbens, who pulled ahead with less than a lap to go. The true freshman finished in 13:44.50 — 6.49 seconds faster than the top time in the East Region from Furman’s Dylan Schubert (13:50.99). Two days, earlier, Samuel finished first in the 10,000m semifinals in similar fasion, crossing in 28:26.91 – 33.68 seconds faster than the raw time he put down in his last 10,000m race at the Don Kirby Tailwind Open at elevation in Albuquerque (29:00.59) and 39.65 seconds faster than the top time in the East Region from Alabama’s Victor Kiprop (29:06.56).

Members of The Bowerman Advisory Board produce these watch lists by voting on their current top-10 “who’s who” among collegiate track & field athletes. The “watch list” represents the group’s consensus top 10 for that update. Those “receiving votes” are listed on at least one member’s top 10 but did not garner enough votes to be listed in the consensus top 10. There are a total of eight watch lists during the season.

Award semifinalists will be announced on Tuesday, June 18 (women) and Thursday, June 20 (men), with finalists slated to be announced on Monday, June 24 (women) and Tuesday, June 25 (men).