In a season marked by extraordinary performances, College of Arkansas freshman Jaydon Hibbert claimed the distinguished 2023 Bowerman Award, the best collegiate honor in observe and discipline.
The announcement got here in the course of the USTFCCCA conference on Thursday night.
Hibbert’s outstanding achievements within the triple bounce, which included an undefeated collegiate season, SEC and NCAA titles, and the shattering of decades-old collegiate and world U20 data, made him a deserving recipient of the award. He additionally concluded the yr because the world chief in his self-discipline.
First freshman ever to win the lads’s Bowerman Award
Notably, Hibbert grew to become the primary freshman ever to win the lads’s Bowerman Award and holds the excellence of being the youngest recipient, no matter gender. He’s additionally the primary Jamaican athlete to say this esteemed accolade, following within the footsteps of fellow Jamaican finalists like Janeek Brown (2019) of Arkansas and Andrew Riley of Illinois (2012).
Among the many earlier freshmen finalists for the lads’s award had been notable athletes like German Fernandez (Oklahoma State, 2009), Edward Cheserek (Oregon, 2014), Donavan Brazier (Texas A&M, 2016), and Mondo Duplantis (LSU, 2019).
Hibbert’s historic win continues a development of excellent freshmen in observe and discipline, following the footsteps of Sha’Carri Richardson (LSU, 2019) and Athing Mu (Texas A&M, 2021), who had been earlier feminine winners of The Bowerman.
Joins an elite group of Bowerman victors
As a global athlete, Hibbert joins an elite group of Bowerman victors, turning into the primary since 2014 when Texas A&M’s Deon Lendore (Trinidad & Tobago) obtained the dignity. Different worldwide athletes who’ve claimed The Bowerman embrace Derek Drouin of Indiana (Canada) in 2013, Cam Levins of Southern Utah (Canada) in 2012, and Ngoni Makusha of Florida State (Zimbabwe) in 2011.
This accolade additionally displays the teaching prowess on the College of Arkansas, as Hibbert turns into the second Bowerman Award recipient below the steerage of Arkansas head coach Chris Bucknam and affiliate head coach Travis Geopfert. The earlier recipient from Arkansas was Jarrion Lawson in 2016, and in 2022, they’d a finalist in Ayden Owens-Delerme.
Hibbert’s distinctive season and historic achievement have firmly etched his title within the annals of collegiate observe and discipline historical past, solidifying his standing as one of many sport’s brightest stars.
