NEW ORLEANS – Ole Miss track & field junior and three-time reigning NCAA shot put champion Tarik Robinson-O’Hagan has landed a spot on an eighth consecutive watch list for The Bowerman for 2025 – the final watch list before the cut to semifinalists later this month.
 
The Bowerman – collegiate track & field’s version of the Heisman Trophy – began in 2009 and is presented each year to the most outstanding male and female athletes in the nation. The trophy is named after famed Oregon head coach, Bill Bowerman.
 
Robinson-O’Hagan is one of only three athletes nationally to have made every watch list in 2025 alongside Cal discus thrower Mykolas Alekna and North Carolina distance runner Ethan Strand.
 
This is the eighth career watch list appearance for Robinson-O’Hagan, who was a semifinalist for The Bowerman in 2024 following a spectacular sophomore campaign that saw him sweep the NCAA men’s shot put titles. Robinson O’Hagan is the first Ole Miss men’s thrower to make the watch list, and only the fourth in Rebel men’s history overall alongside Olympians Ricky Robertson (2012), Isiah Young (2013) and Sam Kendricks (2014).
 
Last weekend, Robinson-O’Hagan punched his third consecutive outdoor national double ticket in the shot and hammer to the 2025 NCAA Outdoor Championships with stellar performances in both events at NCAA East Regional in Jacksonville. In the hammer, Robinson-O’Hagan took down the East Regional record on his top qualifying blast of 74.51m/244-5 in the first round. Prior, no athlete in the history of the East Regional (which began in 2010) had even eclipsed 243 feet. Robinson-O’Hagan carried that momentum into the shot put, where his stadium record and season-best heave of 20.85m/68-5 immediately secured his return trip to Eugene.   
 
At the SEC Outdoor Championships, Robinson-O’Hagan claimed his third straight men’s hammer title with a school-record throw of 75.72m/248-05, which registered as the second-best mark in SEC meet history and fourth overall in conference history. He also ranks 21st in collegiate history – sixth among American born collegians. Robinson-O’Hagan followed up his hammer performance by defending his SEC shot put title, giving him nine career conference titles and 104 total SEC points. He is now one of just three in SEC history outdoors to sweep the shot put and hammer twice and the only athlete ever to sweep both indoor and outdoor shot/weight and shot/hammer events once, let alone in back-to-back seasons.
 
He enters the national meet seeded fourth in the hammer (75.72m/248-05) and second in the shot put (20.85m/68-5), and he reigns as the only thrower in the world to surpass both 69 feet in the shot and 248 feet in the hammer this season (when including indoor shot put mark).
 
Nearly three months ago at the NCAA Indoor Championships, Robinson-O’Hagan secured his third consecutive national title in the shot put (20.49m/67-02.75), while also taking fifth in a stacked weight throw competition (24.09m/79-00.75). Those finishes each earned All-America status and contributed 14 NCAA points to the Rebel men’s 20-point total and tie for 10th-place overall, which was the second-best indoor finish in Ole Miss men’s history.
 
Robinson-O’Hagan was also named SEC Indoor Field Athlete of the Year and won a share of the SEC Cliff Harper Trophy after his second consecutive sweep of the weight and shot titles. His 20 points helped propel the Rebel men to a tie for third place at the conference meet – tied for the best in Ole Miss men’s history indoors.
 
A native of Woonsocket, Rhode Island, Robinson-O’Hagan is one of only 10 athletes in Division I history to win at least three national shot put crowns in a row across the indoor and outdoor seasons, only the second three-peat by an SEC athlete alongside South Carolina’s Brad Snyder (1998 indoor, ’98 outdoor, ’99 indoor).
 
Robinson-O’Hagan has not lost to a fellow collegian in the shot put since April of 2024, and indoors specifically that streak stretches back to January of 2024. His career-best throw of 21.11m/69-03.25 from earlier this indoor season ranks him 21st in collegiate history indoors, as well as second-best in SEC history. His SEC-winning weight throw blast of 24.35m/79-10.75 ranks 13th in collegiate history – pushing his combined career-bests to 45.46m, which trails only North Dakota State’s Payton Otterdahl from 2019 (45.92m).
 
As a sophomore in 2024, Robinson-O’Hagan became the youngest to sweep the NCAA men’s shot put titles indoors and outdoors since 1989, as well as the fourth-youngest to do so all-time. Overall last season, Robinson-O’Hagan claimed those two NCAA titles, four First-Team All-America awards, 26 NCAA points, four SEC titles and 40 points en route to sweeping the USTFCCCA South Region Men’s Field Athlete of the Year and SEC Men’s Field Athlete of the Year awards indoors and outdoors. He also claimed both the SEC Cliff Harper Trophy indoors and the SEC Commissioner’s Trophy outdoors after scoring 20 points at each conference meet.
 
In less than three full seasons with the Rebels, Robinson-O’Hagan has laid waste to the Ole Miss record book, claiming top marks in the weight throw (24.35m/79-10.75) and shot put (21.11m/69-03.25) indoors, and the hammer (75.72m/248-5) and shot put (20.98m/68-10) outdoors. In addition to his 104 career SEC points and nine SEC titles, Robinson-O’Hagan owns three total national titles, 10 All-America awards and 47 NCAA points scored.
 

Robinson-O’Hagan also made a name for himself at last summer’s U.S. Olympic Trials as the youngest finalist in both the men’s shot put and hammer. He placed eighth in the shot put with an Ole Miss outdoor school record of 20.98m/68-10 and demolished his own record in the hammer by five feet at 74.54m/244-7. Track & Field News ranked him seventh in the hammer and eighth in the shot put.
 
Semifinalists for the award are slated to be announced Wednesday, June 25 (women) and Thursday, June 26 (men). Finalists will be announced the week of Monday, June 30.
 
Ole Miss is currently preparing for the 2025 NCAA Outdoor Championships, which this year returns to TrackTown USA at the University of Oregon’s Hayward Field from June 11-14.
 
The Bowerman 2025
Men’s Watch List – June 5, 2025
Mykolas Alekna, California (Discus)
Jordan Anthony, Arkansas (Sprints)
James Corrigan, BYU (Mid-Distance/Steeple)
Nathaniel Ezekiel, Baylor (Sprints/Hurdles)
Ishmael Kipkurui, New Mexico (Distance)
Liam Murphy, Villanova (Mid-Distance/Distance)
Tarik Robinson-O’Hagan, Ole Miss (Throws)
Habtom Samuel, New Mexico (Distance)
Ethan Strand, North Carolina (Mid-Distance/Distance)
Ja’Kobe Tharp, Auburn (Hurdles)
 
* Watch List career debuts
 
Also receiving votes:
Micahi Danzy, Florida State (Sprints)
Geoffrey Kirwa, Louisville (Steeple/Distance)
Angelos Mantzouranis, Minnesota (Hammer/Throws)
Jamar Marshall, Jr., Houston (Sprints/Hurdles)
Tinoda Matsatsa, Georgetown (Mid-Distance/Distance)
Kendrick Smallwood, Texas (Sprints/Hurdles)
Ja’Kobe Tharp, Auburn (Hurdles)
Kostas Zaltos, Minnesota (Throws)
 
ABOUT THE BOWERMAN
The Bowerman, which debuted in 2009 and is named after former University of Oregon coach Bill Bowerman, is presented annually by the USTFCCCA to the most outstanding male and female NCAA track & field athletes in the nation.
 
Bill Bowerman served the sport of track and field in numerous ways. His leadership as president of the USTFCCCA’s predecessor organization, the National Collegiate Track Coaches Association, and his contributions to NCAA track and field and the running community as a whole are among his many lasting legacies.
 
For more information on The Bowerman, the award, the trophy and Bill Bowerman himself, visit TheBowerman.org.
 
THE AWARD: The Bowerman is bestowed to collegiate track & field’s top male and female athlete for the year. The Bowerman Advisory Board, and ultimately, The Bowerman Voters, are instructed to consider performances inclusively from the collegiate indoor track & field and outdoor track & field seasons only. Cross country results are not within this consideration. The current collective track & field season began on November 29, 2024 and will end on June 14, 2025.
 
HISTORY: The Bowerman was first awarded in 2009. The first official watch lists were announced in 2010. Last year’s winners were Parker Valby of Florida and Leo Neugebauer of Texas.
 
ABOUT THE WATCH LIST CONSTRUCTION: Members of The Bowerman Advisory Board produce these watch lists by voting on their current top-10 “who’s who” among collegiate track & field athletes. The “watch list” represents the group’s consensus top 10 for that update. Those “receiving votes” are listed on at least one member’s top 10 but did not garner enough votes to be listed in the consensus top 10. There are a total of eight watch lists during the season. 
 
UP NEXT: Semifinalists for the award are slated to be announced Wednesday, June 25 (women) and Thursday, June 26 (men). Finalists will be announced the week of Monday, June 30.