NCAA Decathlon Champion Tim Duckworth was named a men’s semifinalist for The Bowerman on Thursday.
NCAA Individual Event Champions Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, Olivia Gruver and Sydney McLaughlin were named women’s semifinalists for The Bowerman on Wednesday.
With four semifinalists combining genders, Kentucky became just the third program in The Bowerman’s decade-long history to have at least that many semifinalists (2014 Oregon: five, 2016 Texas A&M: four).
The Duckworth case
Duckworth won two NCAA Championships in 2018, both the indoor heptathlon and outdoor decathlon, with historic scores each time.
He joined Ashton Eaton, the 2010 winner of The Bowerman, as just the second man to complete the indoor-outdoor multi-event sweep.
His NCAA-winning decathlon score of 8,336 ranks No. 7 on the NCAA all-time performers’ list and was the No. 9 NCAA all-time decathlon score. It made him the No. 3 British decathlete all-time.
He popped the best long jump ever in a NCAA Championship decathlon competition, 26’3.5″/8.01m (+0.8), which would’ve placed third in the open long jump at 2018 NCAAs.
He was also SEC long-jump bronze medalist indoors and outdoors.
Additionally, he ran the anchor-leg on UK’s NCAA qualifying 4x100m relay.
He was SEC Field Athlete of the Year indoors and outdoors.
During the regular season, he scored a then NCAA-leading, school record 8,145 points in the decathlon at the 2018 Georgia Spec Towns Invitational. There, he jumped the NCAA long-jump decathlon record 26’4.25”/8.03m.
He was National Men’s Indoor Field Athlete of the Year after he won the NCAA heptathlon, becoming the No. 4 performer in collegiate history recording the fifth best score 6,188, a 23-point personal best. It was the third best score in NCAA Championships history.
He became the first Wildcat to claim NCAA individual gold since the legendary Tim Harden in 1996 (55 meters).
At NCAA Indoors, he recorded personal bests in the shot put (44’7″/13.59, 703 points), high jump (7’1.5″/2.17m, 963 points) and 1k. He won the 60m (6.84, 940 points), long jump (25’4.75″/7.74m, 995 points), high jump and pole vault (16’11″/5.16m, 960 points).
Duckworth had the top regular-season heptathlon score, 7,061 at the Clemson Invitational on Jan. 19. He placed sixth in the SEC pole vault, totaling nine points at SECs in the long jump and pole vault.
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Jake Most
