AUBURN, Ala.—Auburn junior Joyce Kimeli has been named to The Bowerman Watch List, the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association announced Wednesday. The Bowerman, which debuted in 2009 and is named after former Oregon coach Bill Bowerman, is presented annually by the USTFCCCA to the most outstanding male and female collegiate track and field athletes in the nation.
Kimeli won the women's 3000m and 5000m titles at the Southeastern Conference Indoor Championships last weekend, claiming both races in meet record times. The junior won the 5000m in 15:46.88, while shattering the Auburn record by nearly 18 seconds in the 3000m the following day with a winning time of 8:56.02.
The Eldoret, Kenya native's distance sweep was the first ever by an Auburn runner at SEC Indoors and she became the first Tiger woman since Kerron Stewart in 2007 to win a pair of SEC titles in the same meet.
Kimeli is the third Auburn woman to be named to The Bowerman Watch List indoors and first since Joanna Atkins in 2011.
She enters the NCAA Indoor Championships seeded No. 2 nationally at 3000m and No. 3 at 5000m. The NCAA Championships will take place March 11-13 at the Randal Tyson Track Complex in Fayetteville. Ark.
