Razorback Nickisha Pryce named semifinalist for 2024 Bowerman
FAYETTEVILLE – Razorback sprinter Nickisha Pryce has been selected as one of 10 women’s semifinalists for the 2024 Bowerman, as announced by USTFCCCA on Tuesday.
Pryce is the seventh Razorback and the eighth semifinalist from the women’s program in the history of the Bowerman, which started in 2009.
Previous women’s Bowerman semifinalist for Arkansas includes Tina Šutej (2011), Sandi Morris (2015), Dominique Scott (2016), Janeek Brown (2019), Britton Wilson (2022, 2023), and Ackera Nugent (2023).
Šutej, Brown and Wilson each advanced to the three-person final round.
Pryce is one of four athletes from the SEC among the 10 semifinalists. She is joined by Doris Lemngole (Distance, Alabama), McKenzie Long (Sprints, Ole Miss), Parker Valby (Distance, Florida).
The rest of the semifinalists for the 2024 Bowerman include Jasmine Jones (Sprints/Hurdles, USC), Rhema Otabor (Javelin, Nebraska), Maia Ramsden (Mid-Distance, Havard), Jaida Ross (Throws, Oregon), Ackelia Smith (Jumps, Texas), Juliette Whittaker (Mid-Distance, Stanford).
Members of The Bowerman Advisory Board, who have produced watch lists throughout the season, devise these lists of semifinalists by providing a ranked-ordered list of 10 athletes who they believe had the most outstanding season. The list of semifinalists represents the group’s consensus.
The same Advisory Board will assemble to deliberate who will be named as finalists. Those selections will be made public on Monday, June 24.
In 2023, Pryce improved her 400m outdoor best of 53.35 from 2019 to 50.21 in winning her first Jamaican 400m title. In total, she set eight career best times during that outdoor season.
In 2024, Pryce kept driving to produce faster performances, eventually becoming the first collegian and first Jamaican to break 49 seconds with her NCAA title in 48.89 seconds. In five of eight races this outdoor season, Pryce ran sub-50 seconds.
A set of four career best times during this season started with a 50.13, followed by outdoor world-leading marks of 49.72, 49.32, and the scintillating 48.89.
Her SEC 400m winning time of 49.32 just missed the Jamaican national record of 49.30 set in 2002 by Lorraine Fenton. Then Pryce shattered the Jamaican record as well as the previous collegiate record of 49.13 set in 2023 by then teammate Wilson in the NCAA final.
Pryce led the Razorbacks to an unprecedented 1-2-3-4 sweep in the NCAA final as Arkansas accumulated 29 team points, the most ever in any NCAA event for men or women.
“Knowing that my teammates were in the race, I focused on myself and executed the race properly like coach told me to do,” noted Pryce. “That’s exactly what I did. I never expected that time, it just happened. My teammates pushed me.”
In the 4 x 400m relay, as the Razorbacks demolished another collegiate record by nearly four seconds with a 3:17.96 victory, Pryce supplied a 49.19 split on the third leg. The win produced the necessary points for Arkansas to claim the national championship by four points (63-59) over Florida.
“The team score was so tight going into the relay,” said Pryce. “Coach told us to go win the 4 x 400. That’s exactly what we did. It’s my last year, so I felt so good winning the championship. Last one, best one.”