(Abby Steiner (Dub. Coffman 2018) at the OHSAA State Track and Field Championships 2018, where she set the state record in the 200m Dash with a performance of 22.73)
Throughout the duration of this week, the U.S Track & Field and Cross-Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA), held their annual convention, where coaches from all over the country gathered to become acquainted with each other.
Many awards were given out ranging from "High School Coach of the Year," all the way to "Hall of Fame," accolades, to recognize the impacts that many have had on the sport, whether present or past. There is an award though that is the track and field/cross- equivalent of "The Heisman Trophy," and that's The Bowerman.
The Bowerman is the most prestigious award one can receive in the NCAA as a student-athlete that also competes in Track and Field/Cross Country. For one/one's performance to be eligible, the student-athlete must have had competed in indoor and/or outdoor track that academic year, with performance considerations being taken into account starting December 1st, and goes through the conclusion of the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Among that, the performance must be either with a collegiate level team or representing a national team during that time frame.
For voting, voters are able to have 3 nominations, where each pick has their own point tally: first-pick with three points, second-pick with two points, and third-pick with one point. This is determined by various entities, including tacticians, administrators within the governing body, fans, members of the USTFCCCA, and many more.
There were three finalists on both sides: Abby Steiner, Anna Hall, and Camryn Rogers.
Abby ended up being the winner of the prestigious award, solidifying the Ohio native as the year's top student-athlete in track and field in the NCAA.
All that aside, let's move onto Abby Steiner's beginning up until now!
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Abby Steiner (Dub. Coffman 2018), has always been dominant on the track, representing the Shamrocks of Dublin Coffman, later on, the Wildcats of the University of Kentucky, and then eventually going professional earlier this year for PUMA.
Going back to her high school roots at Dublin Coffman, she was a dual-sport athlete, participating in soccer and competing in track and field. Initially, she put more focus on soccer, with committing to play/run for the University of Kentucky as a high school sophomore, and then eventually shifting full-time to track and field.
In high school, she racked up countless victories and accolades on the track, with the tally being 16 state championships as an individual, along with posting 4 state records in the process.
55m Dash - 6.88
60m Dash - 7.36
200m Dash (indoors) - 23.51
200m Dash (outdoors) - 22.73
Ever since she was a freshman at Dublin Coffman, her consistency and ability in the short sprints was nearly unmatched, going undefeated in the 60m Dash and 200m Dash domestically, which inevitably resulted in winning the state championship titles in both of those events. Come outdoor the momentum from her first indoor season on continued to get stronger, as she went completely undefeated in the 200m Dash and nearly undefeated in the 100m Dash, winning the state championship and taking the runner-up spot in the 100m Dash. She set both, at the time, personal bests that meet, with scorching performances of 23.96 and 11.80.
Fast forward to the following indoor season, she became even more consistent, and even quicker, winning nearly every single race she ran in within Ohio competitors, only falling-short to one during that time, and then later getting ahead as she repeated what she did the previous indoor season, by repeating as state champion in the 60m Dash and 200m Dash. Within that time as well, she posted up a US #1 performance in the 60m Dash with a 7.57 in January 2016. Post-season, she earned All-American honors at New Balance Nationals Indoors, placing 6th in the 200m Dash finals. Forward to the spring, Steiner went completely undefeated in the 200m Dash and in the 100m Dash during the main season, winning both state championship titles for these events, and then going on to take 4th in the 100m Dash at the star-studded adidas Boost Boston Games.
During the summer after her sophomore year, she had torn her ACL at a soccer camp that July, forcing her to get surgery and be put in a full leg brace for some time. This caused lots of uncertainty, but it didn't truly end anything there.
Come to the following indoor season, her comeback from a very bitter setback was even sweeter. Abby opened up her indoor 200m campaign that year running a 25, followed by winning the state championship title in that event with an even faster 24.23. She also made the podium in the 60m Dash as well, placing 3rd in the finals. The following outdoor season, she turned up the heat once again, inevitably going undefeated in the 200m Dash, and winning the state title once again, and then going on to podium at New Balance Nationals Outdoor with a 3rd place finish in the finals. In the 100m Dash, she again racked up countless victories, almost going undefeated and won the state title in that event, later competing at New Balance Nationals and placing 10th.
In the final year of her high school campaign, that was when Abby Steiner sealed herself in the Ohio track and field history books, setting all four of her state records during the winter and spring. As no surprise, Steiner repeated once again as the indoor state champion in the 200m Dash, and then took back the crown in the 60m Dash as well. Post-season, she improved upon her previous performances at New Balance Nationals Indoor with a runner-up finish in the 200m Dash, a 5th place finish in the 60m Dash, and a 5th place finish in the 55m Dash. Fast-forward to the spring, Abby Steiner being Abby Steiner, she closed out her senior season with a bang, going completely undefeated in both the 100m Dash and 200m Dash, ending her high school campaign at the OHSAA State Track and Field Championships.
Changing things up from representing the green and black colors of Dublin Coffman High School to representing the blue and white of the University of Kentucky, Abby initially started out doing both soccer and track and field for the Wildcats, eventually hung up the soccer cleats in exchange for track spikes, and safe to say, it paid out massive
On the track, as a freshman, just like in high school, she was an immediate impact on the team, winning two individual events (60m in 7.38 and 200m Dash in 23.59) and being a part of a winning 4x400m relay in her first college meet ever.
But this was only the beginning of a legacy...
As the freshman season went on, she ended up setting the school record in the 60m Dash for freshman, going 7.30 that February, and then earning first-team All-America honors in the 4x400m Relay and second-team All-America honors in the 200m Dash at the NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships that March.
Just like indoor, Steiner kicked off her first collegiate outdoor season just like she did during indoor, with a win. This time on the 4x100m Relay at UTSA Invitational. The following meet however, individually, she won the 100m and 200m Dash, and contributed to a 4x100m victory.
As the season went on, it was clear that she was a key runner on the relays, contributing to victories at prestigious competitions such as Tennessee Relays and Drake Relays.
Once championship season rolled around, she earned all-conference recognition in 4 events: 100m Dash, 200m Dash, 4x100m Relay, and 4x400m Relay. At the NCAA East Region competition, Steiner qualified for the NCAA Championships in all three of her respective events: 200m Dash, 4x100m Relay, and 4x400m Relay. This led to a first-team All-America recognition in the 4x400m Relay, and second-team All-America recognitions in the 200m Dash and 4x100m Relay.
Moving forward onto the 2020 indoor/outdoor season, which inevitably was cut short due to the pandemic right before all contentions of the NCAA Indoor National Championships, regardless, Steiner became even more of a force on the track than she was as a college freshman, setting a school record in the 200m Dash with a winning time of 22.57 at SEC Championships, which also was the #1 time in the world at the time. Along with that, she was a part of Kentucky's 4x400m Relay when they clocked the #2 time in the NCAA at the time of 3:29.74. Despite the cancellation of the NCAA Indoor National Championships, she was recognized as an All-American in every event she qualified for (60m, 200m, 4x400m Relay).
As a college junior, during the 2020/21 indoor season, this was when she really took off, posting several nationally ranked performances in her marquee events, especially the 200m.
In the 200m Dash, Steiner went undefeated in this event, winning the event five out of five times she ran it that season. During that process, she set numerous milestones within those five, including breaking numerous facility/meet records, winning an NCAA Championship title, and tying the NCAA indoor record and second-fastest time ever in the U.S., and even the fifth-fastest performance in world history in the event.
At the NCAA Indoor Championships that season, alongside her national championship title in the 200m Dash, she also earned first-team honors in the 4x400m Relay, and second-team honors in the 60m Dash.
The following winter of the 2021/22 season, which would end up being her senior year, she capped off her collegiate indoor track and field career by breaking many records that she had tied a year before in the 200m Dash: the NCAA Indoor Championship record (22.16), the collegiate record, and the American Record (22.09).
Among other records, Steiner also broke a long-standing collegiate record in the 300m Dash with a 35.80 performance, taking down the 40-year-old record. Along with that, she also broke the school record in the 60m Dash with a 7.10, which also resulted in a runner-up finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships. To cap it off, she was also a part of the 4x400m Relay that ended up breaking the school record as well, with a scorching time of 3:27.27, which was the fourth fastest time in collegiate history.
Now, this previous outdoor season was when things got interesting, as this was when Abby's transition from collegiate runner to professional runner occurred.
Outside of being The Bowerman winner, Abby went undefeated leading up to the championship season, with a #3 all-time performance in the 200m Dash back in April with a scorching 22.05 in the mix at Kentucky's home meet. Along with that, she also broke the school record in the 100m Dash earlier that season, with a 10.92 performance.
Moving onto SEC Championships, she earned first-team honors in four events, with a gold in the 4x400m Relay, silver in the 100m, 200m Dash, and the 4x100m Relay. She then proceeded to qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in all four events at NCAA East Preliminary, where she was the top finisher in the 100m and 200m Dash.
At NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, which would be Abby's second-to-last competition representing the Wildcats, in the 200m Dash, she broke the collegiate record and won the title with a 21.80. Along with that, she earned bronze in the 100m Dash and a silver in the 4x100m Relay. To cap off her final NCAAs, Abby "full-sent" a 48.29 split in the 4x400m Relay, which would end up winning gold as well.
In her final competition representing the blue and white of the University of Kentucky Wildcats, she capped it off with winning the 200m at the USATF Outdoor Championships in 21.77, earning her a spot to represent the United State at World Championships, which ended up being held at the same facility where she wrapped up her NCAA career, Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.
Except this time, representing PUMA.
On July 14th, both Abby Steiner and PUMA announced on social media that she would be running professionally for them, a company that has a track record of having some of the best in world, and in world history represent them. This list includes the likes of Usain Bolt, Karsten Warholm, Mondo Duplantis, Molly Seidel, and many others...
Fast forward to World Championships, this is just the beginning of her professional track and field career, and her legacy.
Individually, Abby took 5th in the 200m Dash, which evidentially ended up being her 55th race of the season. This was also field that ended up having two of the modern greats, Shericka Jackson and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, both of whom represented Jamaica and are both in the history books.
Moving onto relays, this was a memorable one, especially for her first world championship. Abby ended up being a part of two World Championship winning relays, that came in the form of the 4x100m and the 4x400m, which both ended up being "World Leading" times.
From a multi-time State Champion/Record Holder, to multi-time NCAA Champion/Record Holder, to American Record Holder, to USA Champion, and now World Champion, and now The Bowerman Winner, Abby Steiner has the credentials to be seen as one of the best, but her story is just getting started...
