2023 Bowerman semifinalists: Jaydon Hibbert, Carey McLeod

NEW ORLEANS – Razorback jumpers Jaydon Hibbert and Carey McLeod have been selected among the 10 semifinalists for the men’s 2023 Bowerman award, USTFCCCA announced Thursday.

This marks the fourth and fifth time for Arkansas to have a semifinalist for the men’s Bowerman. Previously, Omar McLeod (2015), Jarrion Lawson (2016) and Ayden Owens-Delerme (2022) were semifinalists with Lawson going on to win the Bowerman.

Arkansas is the lone school to have a pair of men’s Bowerman semifinalists. The three finalists for the award will be announced on Tuesday, June 27.

2023 Bowerman semifinalists

During the 2023 season Hibbert and McLeod swept titles at NCAA Indoor and Outdoor meets, adding to the Arkansas legacy in the long and triple jump. Both Razorback jumpers are from Kingston, Jamaica, and they attended the same high school, Kingston College

Of the seven times a sweep of the NCAA long jump and triple jump indoor and outdoor titles has been accomplished, Razorbacks have achieved the feat six times. Previously, Arkansas sweeps occurred in 1984, 1985, 1992, 1994, and 1997. Florida in 2015 is the only other school to complete the task.

In completing the NCAA Outdoor sweep, the McLeod and Hibbert combination was just the third time separate jumpers from the same school accomplished the feat. Arkansas was the most recent school to have that distinction in 1992 with Erick Walder and Brian Wellman. It was first done in 1972 with UCLA’s combo of Finn Bendixen and Milan Tiff.

Indoors, the NCAA victories by McLeod and Hibbert became only the fourth time separate jumpers from the same school swept. It was the second time for Arkansas, with Jarrion Lawson and Clive Pullen accomplishing the feat in 2016.

This marked the 14th time for one school to win both events in the same NCAA Outdoor meet and it was the seventh time by the Razorbacks. For the NCAA Indoor meet, Arkansas has swept titles nine of the 14 times it has occurred.

As an 18-year-old freshman Hibbert had plenty of accomplishments during an undefeated season, highlighted by a pair of collegiate and World U20 records set indoors and outdoors, as he shattered standards that had stood since the 1980s.

Just as impressive was the limited number of jumps Hibbert attempted in claiming SEC and NCAA titles for the indoor and outdoor campaign. He became just the fourth freshman to win the NCAA Outdoor title, and only the second to sweep NCAA titles as a freshman.

Among eight meets contested in 2023, Hibbert totaled 19 attempts. The only time he attempted all six jumps came on very short approaches during the CARIFTA Games in March when he defended his triple jump title.

Indoors, Hibbert’s tally included five attempts in three meets. Outdoors, outside of the six attempts in the Bahamas at the CARIFTA Games, Hibbert’s total in collegiate competition included eight attempts in four meets.

Hibbert claimed the SEC Indoor title on the second of three attempts, bounding out to a distance of 56-1.25 (17.10), which made him the youngest athlete to surpass 17 meters (55-9.25) indoors as he moved to No. 3 on the World U20 all-time list and improved his Jamaican indoor U20 record.

Jumping in Albuquerque during the NCAA Indoor Championships, the triple jump was the first men’s event following the completion of the women’s events. As the eighth jumper among a field of 16, Hibbert delivered the winning mark on his only attempt.

A measurement of 57-6.5 (17.54) broke the collegiate record of 57-1 (17.40) set by Arkansas legend Mike Conley in 1985 and equaled the Arkansas outdoor record established by Conley in 1985, in which the pair of Razorbacks shared the No. 2 position on the absolute collegiate all-time list.

Hibbert also broke the Jamaican record of 56-4.75 (17.19) set by Arkansas alum Clive Pullen in 2017. Additional records included the World U20 indoor and outdoor records, surpassing the indoor mark of 56-5.25 (17.20) by Melvin Raffin of France in 2017, as well as the outdoor mark of 57-5 (17.50) set in 1985 by Germany’s Volker Mai.

For the 2023 indoor season, Hibbert ranked third in the world, just six centimeters (2.5 inches) behind the world leading distance of 57-9 (17.60) by Portugal’s Pedro Pichardo.

Following his trip to the Bahamas, Hibbert competed at the LSU Invitational in Baton Rouge, which would serve as the site of the SEC Championships two weeks later. His lone attempt measured 56-4 (17.17) for the victory.

During the SEC Championships, Hibbert started with a 55-10.25 (17.02) in the first round. Then he sailed to an amazing distance of 58-7.5 (17.87) to break the collegiate record of 57-7.75 (17.57) which had stood since 1982 when it was set at altitude in Provo, Utah, by SMU’s Keith Connor.

Teammate Ryan Brown finished as the SEC silver medalist with a mark of 53-11 (16.43).

The world leading distance by Hibbert bettered the Arkansas standard set by Mike Conley, a wind-legal 57-6.5 (17.54) as well as a wind-aided 58-1.75 (17.72) from the 1985 NCAA Championships in Austin. Hibbert also shares the No. 13 position on the world all-time list with Conley’s best mark as a professional.

Hibbert and Conley are the only triple jumpers to have a pair of performances on the collegiate all-time top 10 list.

Following a solo jump of 55-2 (16.81) during the NCAA West Preliminary round, Hibbert entered the NCAA Championships as a prohibitive favorite.

His opening jump of 57-7.5 (17.56), the third best collegiate mark ever, sealed the victory and just missed the meet record from 1982 that had previously served as the collegiate record. Hibbert set the low altitude meet record and bettered the facility record of 56-2.5 (17.13) set in 2019 by TCU’s Du Mapaya.

 Triple Jump | Collegiate All-Time Outdoor

Triple Jump | Collegiate All-Time Indoor

McLeod claimed his pair of NCAA long jump titles in different manners. A last round leap captured the indoor title, then McLeod won the outdoor title on his first jump.

At the NCAA Indoor meet in Albuquerque, McLeod’s sixth round mark measured 27-6.75 (8.40). It snared the title by a centimeter, or a quarter of an inch, over Mississippi State’s Cameron Crump, who had moved into the lead in round four.

McLeod’s winning effort equaled the Jamaican national record set by James Beckford in 1996. He also moved to No. 5 on the collegiate all-time list and was just three centimeters shy of the UA record of 27-8 (8.43) set by Erick Walder in 1994.

After a bronze medal in the SEC Indoor long jump, McLeod improved to silver at the SEC Outdoor meet, finishing behind teammate Wayne Pinnock.

The Razorback duo repeated the 1-2 finish at the NCAA Outdoor meet, but reversed positions. McLeod hit a winning distance of 27-1.25 (8.26) that was just shy of his career best of 27-4.5 (8.34) he set in 2021 while at Tennessee.

McLeod and Pinnock recorded the best NCAA Outdoor finish ever by Arkansas as the previous best was 1-3 in 1984 by Mike Conley and Mike Davis. McLeod became the sixth Razorback in winning Arkansas’ 10th title, and the first since Jarrion Lawson in 2016.

Long Jump | Collegiate All-Time Outdoor

Long Jump | Collegiate All-Time Indoor