Courtesy of Air Force Athletics
NEW ORLEANS – Texas Tanner’s historic senior season earned another chapter this afternoon (May 21), as he became the first Air Force Track and Field athlete to be named to The Bowerman Watch List
The Bowerman – collegiate track and field’s highest honor – is awarded each year to the top male and female collegiate athlete in NCAA Track and Field. The Watch List, which is released eight times throughout the season, represents the Top 10 picks of The Bowerman Advisory Group at the time of each update.
Tanner’s 2026 season has already accounted for two American Collegiate Records, two Indoor All-America performances, four conference titles, two Mountain West Records, two MW Championship Meet Records, the Air Force and Service Academy Records in all five of his throwing events, the program’s first USTFCCCA National Athlete of the Week award, and upcoming appearances in the national semifinals of the discus and hammer at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
The native of Sheridan, Wyo., currently leads the NCAA in the discus throw (228’2) and hammer throw (258’9″) – with both marks serving as the No. 2 all-time marks in NCAA history and the best throws by an American-born collegiate.
The May 21 edition of The Bowerman Watch List includes Oregon’s Simeon Birnbaum (middle distance), Louisville’s Geoffrey Kirwa (steeplechase, distance), Texas A&M’s Chinecherem Nnandi (javelin), Alabama’s Samuel Ogazi (sprints), Ole Miss’s Tarik O’Hagan (throws), Northern Arizona’s Colin Sahlman (middle distance, distance), New Mexico’s Habtom Samuel (distance), Air Force’s Texas Tanner (throws), Auburn’s Ja’Kobe Tharp (hurdles), and Arkansas’ Jelani Watkins (sprints).
