California track & field redshirt junior Mykolas Alekna has been named to The Bowerman Preseason Watch List for the third consecutive year, as announced by The Bowerman Advisory Board Thursday.
 
The Bowerman is presented each year to the top male and female collegiate track & field athletes. Alekna, who broke the world record in the discus last season and earned a silver medal at the Olympic Games, appeared on each of the previous two preseason watch lists and was a semifinalist in 2022 and 2023 – the first Cal man to reach that status. He is one of just four men in award history to have appeared on a watch list in four different years, and is the active leader with 16 total appearances, ranking seventh all-time among men. On Wednesday, Alekna was also named the top men's discus thrower in the world by Track & Field News.
 
To date, Cal's only finalist for The Bowerman has been hammer thrower Camryn Rogers in 2022.
 
Two other throwers – Baylor's Chinecherem Nnamdi and Ole Miss's Tarik Robinson-O'Hagan – join Alekna on the watch list, while Harvard's Kenneth Ikeji was named in the "receiving votes" category.
 
The Bowerman Preseason Men's Watch List – 2025
Mykolas Alekna – California (Discus)
Johnny Brackins, Jr. – USC (Hurdles/Jumps)
Chinecherem Nnamdi – Baylor (Javelin)
Tarsis Orogot – Alabama (Sprints)
Tarik Robinson-O'Hagan – Ole Miss (Throws)
Habtom Samuel – New Mexico (Distance)
Ethan Strand – North Carolina (Mid-Distance/Distance)
Ja'Kobe Tharp – Auburn (Hurdles)
Sam Whitmarsh – Texas A&M (Sprints/Mid-Distance)
Parker Wolfe – North Carolina (Distance)
 
Also receiving votes:
Nathan Green – Washington (Mid-Distance)
Kenneth Ikeji – Harvard (Throws)
Eli Kosiba – Grand Valley State (Jumps)
Rivaldo Marshall – Arkansas (Mid-Distance)
Tinoda Matsatsa – Georgetown (Mid-Distance)
Nathan Moutain – Virginia (Mid-Distance)
Samuel Ogazi – Alabama (Sprints)
Godson Oghenebrume – LSU (Sprints)
Colin Sahlman – Northern Arizona (Mid-Distance)
 
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