Texas' Julien Alfred captures Bowerman award as NCAA's top female track and field athlete

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Texas Longhorns sprinter Julien Alfred is the best college track and field athlete in America.

Alfred was named the winner of The Bowerman, the highest honor in collegiate track and field akin to football's Heisman Trophy. Alfred had one of the best years in both indoor and outdoor track in NCAA history en route to claiming the award. She's the second Texas woman to win the award and the first since Courtney Okolo did it in 2016, and the St. Lucia native is the first international woman to win the award.

Nobody could beat her in the 60-meter dash during the indoor season, and she broke the NCAA record six times shaving her time down to 6.86 seconds on her way to the national championship in the event. She completed the sprint double during the indoor season with a win in the 200 meters, becoming the first woman from the Big 12 Conference to accomplish the feat and the second woman to do it in the past 25 years.

Alfred helped the Longhorns win the NCAA outdoor national championship by winning the 100 and 200, setting the fastest all-conditions time in NCAA history with a 10.72w in the 100. She also set the fastest all-conditions time in the 200 with a gold-medal winning 21.73w.

Alfred also ran a leg on the Texas 4x100 relay team that broke the NCAA record three times and took home gold at the NCAA championships.

Arkansas' Jaydon Hibbert won the award on the men's side. Texas decathlete Leo Neugebauer was nominated after his tremendous display at the NCAA championships, winning the decathlon in record-breaking fashion with 8,836 points. That mark broke the NCAA, NCAA championship meet and Texas record in the 10-event discipline as well as the 39-year-old record of his homeland, Germany. He was the first-ever Texas man to be a finalist for the award.