Junior Florida jumper Will Claye (Phoenix, Ariz.) has been added to the watch list for collegiate track and field’s most prestigious award – The Bowerman in the Feb. 9 release of the list. Fellow Gators Jeff Demps (Winter Garden, Fla.) and Christian Taylor (Fayetteville, Ga.) earlier were named to the award’s preseason watch list and stay on the latest update to the list.
Florida is the only school in the country to place more than one athlete on the Bowerman Men’s Watch List and the Gators have three athletes on the most recent list.
Claye has automatically-qualified for the upcoming NCAA Indoor Championships with a collegiate-leading men’s triple jump mark of 16.86m/55-3.75. That mark currently ranks eighth in the world this season. He is a perfect 2-for-2 in competitions this season after winning the long jump at the Virginia Tech Elite Meet this past weekend.
Claye joined the Gators prior to the start of the 2010-11 academic year, transferring from Oklahoma. He was the 2009 NCAA Outdoor Triple Jump Champion.
The Bowerman Advisory Board appointed four of its members to comprise The Bowerman Men’s Watch Committee and another four of its members to make up The Bowerman Women’s Watch Committee. The committee will release their next men’s update on Wednesday, March 2. The three men and three women finalists will be named late June.
2011 BOWERMAN MEN’S WATCH LIST (AS OF FEB. 9)
| Name | Class | School | Event | Hometown |
| Jeshua Anderson | Sr. | Washington State | Hurdles | Woodland Hills, Calif. |
| Robby Andrews | So. | Virginia | Distance | Englishtown, N.J. |
| Sam Chelanga | Sr. | Liberty | Distance | Nairobi, Kenya |
| Will Claye | Jr. | Florida | Jumps | Phoenix, Ariz. |
| Jeff Demps | So./Jr. | Florida | Sprints | Winter Garden, Fla. |
| Mason Finley | So. | Kansas | Throws | Salida, Colo. |
| Marquise Goodwin | So. | Texas | Sprints/Jumps | Garland, Texas |
| Walter Henning | Sr. | LSU | Throws | Kings Park, N.Y. |
| Kirani James | So. | Alabama | Sprints | Gouyave, Grenada |
| Christian Taylor | Jr. | Florida | Jumps | Fayetteville, Ga. |
