Before Bill Bowerman was a trophy, he was a coach in Eugene, Oregon, who got so obsessed with making his runners faster that he destroyed his wife’s waffle iron trying to invent a better shoe sole. That experiment helped turn a small shoe-import operation he started with one of his former milers — a guy named Phil Knight — into Nike.
Bowerman understood something decades before NIL existed: athletic performance is a brand. The sole of a shoe, the story of a runner, the loyalty of a fanbase — it’s all value waiting to be built.
So it’s fitting that the award named after him, given each year to the most outstanding man and woman in college track and field, has become a spotlight for athletes who are quietly among the most fuelable names in college sports. The 2026 finalists were announced June 30, and the winners will be named December 17 at the USTFCCCA convention.
That’s a five-month runway. Here’s who you should be fueling before the trophies are handed out.
The Men’s Finalists
All three punched their tickets with dominant runs at the NCAA championships — relive the moments on the 2026 men’s track and field championship cards.
Ja’Kobe Tharp — Auburn
The headline: Tharp set a world record in the outdoor 200m this season. Not a collegiate record — a world record. Add an NCAA 60m hurdles record, national titles in the indoor 60m hurdles and outdoor 110m hurdles, and SEC sweeps in both, and you have the most electric athlete on this list. He’s also a two-time finalist and the first in Auburn program history — and if you’ve been following our Auburn men’s track and field coverage, you know the Plains show up for their own. War Eagle travels well beyond the football field. Fuel Ja’Kobe Tharp →
Samuel Ogazi — Alabama
Ogazi owned the 400m in 2026: NCAA champion indoors and outdoors, SEC champion indoors and outdoors, and a new NCAA outdoor record in the event. He didn’t just run the fastest 400m in collegiate history this season — he ran several of the fastest ever. He’s the first Alabama athlete to reach men’s finalist status, and the timing couldn’t be better: Doris Lemngole just gave Alabama women’s track and field its first-ever Bowerman in December. Now Alabama men’s track and field has a chance to make it back-to-back trophies in Tuscaloosa. Fuel Samuel Ogazi →
Habtom Samuel — New Mexico
Samuel never lost to a collegian this season. Distance running is a grind sport with a cult following, and Samuel gave that cult everything: NCAA records in the 2-mile and outdoor 5000m, national titles in the indoor 5000m, outdoor 5000m, and 10,000m, and a clean sweep of his Mountain West events. He’s the first finalist in New Mexico men’s track and field history — a mid-major star with a major-conference resume. Fuel Habtom Samuel →
The Women’s Finalists
Hayward Field was where all three sealed their cases — catch the highlights on the 2026 women’s track and field championship cards.
Adaejah Hodge — Georgia
Hodge rewrote the sprint record book: an NCAA 100m record, an NCAA outdoor 200m record, national 200m titles indoors and outdoors, and an undefeated season in the 200m at both. Sprinters are the natural NIL stars of track — short races, huge moments, endlessly clippable — and Hodge is the sport’s most marketable new face. Fuel Adaejah Hodge →
Dejanea Oakley — Georgia
Yes, two finalists from the same Bulldogs program. Oakley swept the 400m national titles indoors and outdoors, set the NCAA outdoor 400m record, and anchored relay squads that ran some of the fastest 4x400s in collegiate history. She and Hodge are the second and third women’s finalists Georgia has ever produced — and they arrived in the same year. Georgia women’s track and field should be treated like a championship run in Athens, because it is one. Fuel Dejanea Oakley →
Axelina Johansson — Nebraska
Undefeated against every collegiate thrower she faced, indoors and out. Johansson set the NCAA indoor shot put record, won national titles in both seasons, claimed the Big Ten outdoor shot put crown, and took bronze at the World Indoor Championships against professionals. She’s the first Bowerman finalist in Husker history — across both Nebraska women’s and Nebraska men’s track and field — and throws athletes are historically the most under-fueled stars in the sport. That’s not a gap — that’s an opportunity. Fuel Axelina Johansson →
Why This Matters for Fans
Track and field NIL is the most inefficient market in college sports. These six athletes hold world records, NCAA records, and national titles — resumes that would make them household names in football or basketball — and most of them are still waiting for fan support to catch up to their performance.
It’s also worth noting where the power sits: four of the six finalists — Tharp, Ogazi, Hodge, and Oakley — come from the SEC, the conference that has claimed more Bowermans than any other. If you follow SEC track and field, this is your award to watch.
The Bowerman announcement on December 17 will change the visibility equation for at least two of these athletes. The fans who fueled them before the trophy get the story. And the momentum doesn’t stop with the finalists — programs like Georgia women’s and Georgia men’s track and field are full of the next names on this list. Add them to your Trophy Case now, and when one of these names goes global — the way a certain Oregon coach’s waffle-sole experiment did — you were there first.
Fuel a finalist today → rallyfuel.com/bowerman-track-nil
