Trio of Razorbacks part of The Bowerman preseason watch list
NEW ORLEANS – A pair of Razorbacks were named to The Bowerman 2023 men’s preseason watch list. Ayden Owens-Delerme, a finalist for the award in 2022, and Wayne Pinnock represent Arkansas on the 10-person watch list.
In addition, Razorback Carey McLeod is among eight athletes receiving votes for the watch list.
As the 2023 season starts on Friday with the Arkansas Invitational, Owens-Delerme will compete in the pole vault and shot put while McLeod will contest the 60m.
Owens-Delerme and Pinnock were each double national champions in 2022, winning titles at NCAA Indoor and Outdoor meets.
Owens-Delerme produced a scintillating rally to capture gold on the NCAA Indoor heptathlon, and then completed the sweep with a decathlon title at NCAA Outdoor, becoming just the fifth decathlete to accomplish both titles in the same season.
During his 2022 campaign, Owens-Delerme set four Arkansas school records – heptathlon, decathlon (twice), and ran on the indoor 4 x 400 relay – as well as four Puerto Rican national records – heptathlon, decathlon (twice), and 400m.
Owens-Delerme established the 400m national record of 45.07 during the World Championships, leading the first day with a career best 4,606 points. He finished fourth on the world stage with a career best of 8,532 points.
One of just two decathletes to produce a pair of scores over 8,500 points, Owens-Delerme generated the ninth and 10th best scores on the 2022 world list. The 45.07 by Owens-Delerme was equal 37th on the 2002 400m world list.
Owens-Delerme ranked No. 6 in the world rankings produced by Track & Field News and was ranked No. 5 in world rankings generated by Athletics International.
In earning the USTFCCCA National Field Athlete of the Year indoor and outdoor, Owens-Delerme became just the second multi-event athlete to earn both honors in the same year after Ashton Eaton (2009, 2010). He also became just the second Razorback to earn both honors in the same year, joining Erick Walder (1994).
Pinnock swept SEC and NCAA long jump titles competing for Tennessee in 2022, as he produced marks of 26 feet in each competition. His best mark of the season, a leap of 26-8.5 (8.14), won the Jamaican Championship. Then Pinnock finished ninth at the World Athletics Championships, missing the last three rounds in the final by two inches with his mark of 25-10.25 (7.88).
McLeod, who competed in the long jump and triple jump at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, also transferred to Arkansas from Tennessee.
A silver medalist in the 2022 NCAA Indoor long jump, McLeod earned a pair of NCAA bronze medals in the long jump in 2021 and added a triple jump bronze at the 2021 NCAA Indoor meet.
In SEC competition, McLeod collected three gold medals, twice in the triple jump and once in the long jump.
Half of the 10 athletes on the men’s watch list are from SEC schools with a pair from Georgia in Matthew Boling and Kyle Garland, along with Sean Burrell of LSU.
Also making the watch list are Mykola Alekna (California), Sondre Guttormsen (Princeton), Charles Hicks (Stanford), 2021 finalist Turner Washington (Arizona State), and Nico Young (Northern Arizona).