Alfred, Rhasidat, Smith all named to Bowerman semifinal list

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Thirty percent of the semifinalists for the women's Bowerman Award are Longhorns.

Julien Alfred, Rhasidat Adeleke and Ackelia Smith were tabbed as part of 10 semifinalists for the award given to the top college track and field athlete in the country, the USTFCCCA announced Wednesday.

All three won national outdoor championships to help the Longhorns win the women's team title in Austin, and for Alfred, she made the semifinal cut for the second time.

Alfred has been one of the best collegiate athletes the entire year — indoors and outdoors. She won national titles in the 60-meter dash and 200 meters during the indoor season and pulled off the triple in the outdoor season with golds in the 100, 200 and 4x100 relay. She hasn't lost a race in the 100 in two years and was named both the indoor and outdoor women's track athlete of the year by the USTFCCCA.

Alfred has been on every iteration of the watch list including the preseason one.

Adeleke knocked off Arkansas' Britton Wilson to win the 400 at the outdoor championships with a second-best collegiate time of 49.20 seconds. She was part of the 4x100 relay team that broke the collegiate record on three occasions this season. She was the runner-up in the 400 during the indoor season.

Adeleke has been on four editions of the watch list during the season.

Smith won the outdoor long jump championship and finished second in the triple jump, adding to her runner-up indoor finish in the long jump and third-place finish in the triple jump. Smith soared to the second-best outdoor mark in NCAA history during the Big 12 Championship with a leap of 23 feet, 7.25 inches. She won the outdoor national title with a mark of 22 feet, 6.86 inches.

Texas and Arkansas were the only schools to have multiple people named to the list. The list of 10 gets trimmed down to three finalists June 26 with the winner being announced in December.