From Phenom to Legend
ORLANDO, Fla. – Athletically and academically gifted long before setting foot on ‘The Hill’, Jarrion Lawson’s time at the University of Arkansas brought immeasurable success and noteworthy achievement to an already venerated track and field program.
On Friday evening, in a room full of track and field coaches and enthusiasts at the USTFCCCA Convention as well as his family, friends and coaches, Lawson was selected as the 2016 Bowerman Award winner – the crowning individual achievement in NCAA track and field for a student-athlete.
Looking Back
Lawson arrived on campus from Texarkana, Texas, in 2012 as a raw, gangly jumping phenom without the slightest expectation of what his future held yet trusting firmly in three coaches who had his best interest at heart.
He earned his first national standing in March 2013 with a fourth-place finish in the long jump, scoring five points toward Arkansas’ 41st NCAA team title. That meet marked the first—and last—time he would ever compete in just one event on the national stage. By his sophomore year, his growing skill set earned him a spot on the top of the podium, seizing a gold medal with the third-best mark (8.39m/27-6.5) in NCAA indoor meet history.
Lawson was simply special.
More greatness was unleashed his junior season when the once jumps-focused star emerged in 2015 as one of the strongest sprinters in the country. After clocking a program-record 10.04 in the semifinal round at the NCAA outdoor meet, Lawson ran to a bronze finish in a wind-aided 9.90 performance. He went on to bring home the first non-jumps NCAA gold of his career with a powerful second leg as a member of the Razorbacks’ 4×100-meter relay squad. Lawson teamed with Omar McLeod, Kenzo Cotton and Marqueze Washington to post a school-record time of 38.47.
As fruitful as his output was during his first three years as a Razorback, Lawson saved the best for last, valiantly giving his all for the team during his senior year to the tune of four individual gold medals and one bronze at the indoor and outdoor nationals meets.
Legendary Razorback coach John McDonnell once likened the coming of Mike Conley to Arkansas as Michael Jordan to the Chicago Bulls. The same can be said about Lawson, the promising freshman that came to Fayetteville in 2012 and departed as a legend with 19 All-America certificates, six NCAA event titles and the 2016 Bowerman Award.
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