Kentucky sprinter Abby Steiner wins The Bowerman, college track and field’s highest honor

Abby Steiner delivered one of the greatest years in the history of University of Kentucky athletics — any time, any sport — in 2022.

So it came as little surprise Thursday night when the senior from Dublin, Ohio, was honored with The Bowerman — the most prestigious award presented in college track and field.

Much like Kentucky’s Oscar Tshiebwe swept every major men’s basketball national player of the year award last school year, Steiner has now done so in women’s track and field.

The sprinter previously was named 2022’s Women’s Indoor Track Athlete of the Year and and Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year and claimed the Honda Sports Award for track and field.

She was one of three finalists for The Bowerman alongside Florida multi-event standout Anna Hall and California hammer thrower Camryn Rodgers.

The Bowerman winners were revealed during the national awards ceremony in Denver for the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. Florida State’s Trey Cunningham won the 2022 men’s award.

The Bowerman is voted on by a national panel that includes media, track statisticians, NCAA administrators and past winners and recognizes regular-season performance across the indoor and outdoor seasons combined.

Steiner is the first UK athlete to win The Bowerman, which was first awarded in 2009. Two other Wildcats, Kendra Harrison and Sydney McLaughlin — both of whom were NCAA champions and future Olympic medalists— were finalists in 2015 and 2018, respectively.

Steiner, who announced last summer that her UK career was complete and she was prepared to turn professional, won three NCAA titles this year.

Individually, she swept the 200-meter dash at the indoor and outdoor national championships, setting an American record and second-fastest mark in world history with a time of 22.09 seconds in the indoor event. Then, in the outdoor 4-by-400 relay, she turned in one of the most visually stunning performances in collegiate track history. Taking the baton in the third leg, at least 25 meters behind in fourth place, she blew past the world-class competition and gave the baton — now approximately 7 meters ahead — to Alexis Holmes, who took it to the finish for the Wildcats’ gold medal.

In addition to the indoor 200 record, Steiner also set collegiate records for the outdoor 200 (:21.80) and indoor 300 (:35.80) and as part of the 4-by-400 relay, which ran 3:21.93 at this year’s Southeastern Conference Championships.

She ran in 14 different events this year at the NCAA and SEC outdoor and indoor championship meets and earned a medal in all 14.

In the classroom, Steiner was both the SEC Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field Scholar-Athlete of the Year after compiling a 3.802 grade-point average and earning a degree in kinesiology.

After graduation, Steiner won the 200 at the USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships last summer. She then advanced to the World Championships, where she helped earn two gold medals for the United States as part of the 4-by-100 and 4-by-400 relays.

The Bowerman is awarded for the collegiate indoor/outdoor seasons only, and professional accomplishments are not considered, but Steiner’s performances over the summer proved her readiness for the world stage as a professional.

Steiner concluded her collegiate career as a 15-time All-American including 11 first-team honors, and a four-time SEC champion.

Steiner, who began her Kentucky career as a two-sport athlete — also playing soccer — managed to accomplish all of this despite several obstacles during her four years, in particular during outdoor seasons. As a freshman in 2019, just months after devoting herself to track full-time, Steiner made it to the SEC outdoor championships, but failed to win any of her events.

The 2020 NCAA and SEC outdoor championships never happened due to the coronavirus pandemic, and Steiner was forced to sit out most of the 2021 outdoor season because of a left Achilles injury.

“I hope that my journey can inspire other younger girls to not be scared of adversity and change and to face it head on,” Steiner said last May. “Everything happens for a reason. I just hope that my journey with injuries and becoming a two-sport athlete and then transitioning to one can help inspire people to go after their dreams and don’t be afraid of change that happens along the way.”