Gators’ record-setter Holloway wins Bowerman Award
GAINESVILLE — Florida Gators’ record-setter Grant Holloway capped his brilliant career by winning the ultimate honor in collegiate track and field — The Bowerman Award.
Presented to Holloway Thursday night at Orlando’s JW Marriott Grande Lakes, The Bowerman honors the nation’s top male and female track and field athletes.
Holloway, the winner of eight individual national titles during three seasons with the Gators, seemed to be a lock to become the second Gator to win the award. He joined former UF jumper Marquis Dendy, the 2015 winner who was on hand Thursday to see Holloway honored.
“It’s been a remarkable season,” Holloway said. “There’s so many countless people that helped get me to this point. It’s been a long grind.”
UF’s
Yanis
David, who won a pair of national titles and swept the horizontal jumps at the SEC Indoor and Outdoor Championships this past season, was a women’s finalist for The Bowerman, but the award went to former LSU sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson.
Holloway, a Chesapeake, Va., native who turned 22
Nov. 19, capped his collegiate career on the track with his greatest performance as a Gator. In June, he won the national title in the 110-meter high hurdles with a time of 12.98 seconds to break Renaldo Nehemiah’s 40-year-old collegiate record and record the fastest time in the world in 2019.
In October after turning professional during the summer, Holloway won the 110-meter hurdles at the IAAF World Championships in Doha, Qatar, becoming first American 110 hurdler to win a global championship since David Oliver in 2013.
But Holloway was more than a 110 hurdler for the Gators.
On the same day he set the national record in his speciality, Holloway later ran the third leg for UF’s collegiate record-breaking 4x100 relay team (37.97 seconds).
He capped off his remarkable performance at the NCAA Championships by running a 43.75-second split for the Gators’ 4x400 relay team. The team finished second in June but tied the fourth-fastest time in collegiate history (2:59.60).
Holloway also dominated the indoor season, breaking his own collegiate record and a 32-year-old American record to win the 60-meter hurdles at the NCAA Indoor Championships, crossing the finish line in 7.35 seconds. He also won NCAA Indoors title in the 60 meters to become the third man in Division I history to complete a sweep of the two 60-meter events.