Jamaica’s Commonwealth Games women’s high jump champion Lamara Distin has been included in the Bowerman pre-season watch list, the US Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) announced on Tuesday.

The former Rusea’s High, Vere Technical and Hydel High standout, who attends Texas A&M University, is joined by former St Catherine High sprinter, St Lucia’s Julien Alfred of the University of Texas at Austin.

Distin was also a finalist at the World Athletics World Championships in Eugene, Oregon, in July,

“The Bowerman is given annually by the USTFCCCA to the top male and female collegiate track & field athlete. The watch list will be updated seven times throughout the indoor and outdoor seasons prior to the semifinalists being announced on June 19 and the finalists on June 26,” the Texas A&M track and field website said.

The ‘Aggies’ website said this was “Distin’s first appearance on The Bowerman Watch List. She is the 15th in Texas A&M women’s programme history to be named to the watch list. A&M only trails Oregon [17] on the all-time list of athletes to reach the watch list”.

Distin, who broke both Jamaican women indoors and outdoors records in a dominant 2022 season but was never listed on the Bowerman list, “is a two-time NCAA national champion, swept the Southeastern Conference and NCAA Indoor and Outdoor high jump titles, while winning 13 of the 15 high jump competitions she competed in,” the Texas A&M site said.

She was ranked number one in the world for a long time after she cleared 1.97m at the Alumni Muster meet, the fourth-best collegian in history, breaking both the school and Jamaican national records.

Also named on the lists are the Louisiana State University pair of Alia Armstrong and Favour Ofili and the University of Florida’s Talitha Diggs and Jasmine Moore, Adelaide Aquilla of Ohio State, Jorinde Van Klinken of Oregon, Camryn Rogers of the University of California and Britton Wilson of the University of Arkansas.

— Paul Reid