A PAIR OF CARIBBEAN ISLANDERS have emerged as T&FN’s Outdoor Collegiate Athlete Of The Year award winners for ’23. Jamaican triple jump ace Jaydon Hibbert of Arkansas was the top man and St. Lucia speedster Julien Alfred of Texas was the top woman.
Hibbert, just an 18-year-old frosh, was undefeated during the campaign, wrapping things up by winning the NCAA title with the No. 3 collegiate performance ever. He had earlier raised the Collegiate Record by a foot with his 58-7½ (17.87) win at the SEC.
Honorable mention to Leo Neugebauer of Texas, who crushed the CR in the decathlon, Ky Robinson of Stanford, who scored a 5K/10K double at the NCAA, and Mykolas Alekna of Cal, who destroyed the discus CR as part of a campaign that saw him produce the 4 longest marks ever and 7 of 10.
As for Alfred, she sewed things up with a busy final day at the NCAA by winning the 100 and 200. Her times of 10.72w (twice) and 21.73w were faster than any other collegian has ever run under all conditions. Our AOY honors are individually based, so she got no extra credit for being on the winning 4×1 which set a CR in the semis.
Honorable mention to Florida’s Jasmine Moore, with an NCAA TJ win and LJ 3rd, Britton Wilson of Arkansas, who set a pair of CRs in the 400 and moved to No. 3 on the all-time 400H list, and 100H CR-setter Masai Russell of Kentucky.
The all-time winners, since we began this award in ’95 (women are listed with the last name they were using at the time):
| Year | Men’s AOY | Women’s AOY |
| 2023 | Jaydon Hibbert (Arkansas) | Julien Alfred (Texas) |
| 2022 | Trey Cunningham (Florida State) | Abby Steiner (Kentucky) |
| 2021 | JuVaughn Harrison (LSU) | Athing Mu (Texas A&M) |
| 2020 (none) | ||
| 2019 | Grant Holloway (Florida) | Sha’Carri Richardson (LSU) |
| 2018 | Michael Norman (USC) | Maggie Ewen (Arizona State) |
| 2017 | Fred Kerley (Texas A&M) | Raevyn Rogers (Oregon) |
| 2016 | Jarrion Lawson (Arkansas) | Courtney Okolo (Texas) |
| 2015 | Shawn Barber (Akron) | Jenna Prandini (Oregon) |
| 2014 | Trayvon Bromell (Baylor) | Courtney Okolo (Texas) |
| 2013 | Derek Drouin (Indiana) | Brianna Rollins (Clemson) |
| 2012 | Cam Levins (Southern Utah) | Brianne Theisen (Oregon) |
| 2011 | Ngoni Makusha (Florida State) | Sheila Reid (Villanova) |
| 2010 | Ryan Whiting (Arizona State) | Queen Harrison (Virginia Tech) |
| 2009 | Galen Rupp (Oregon) | Jenny Barringer (Colorado) |
| 2008 | Richard Thompson (LSU) | Sally Kipyego (Texas Tech) |
| 2007 | Walter Dix (Florida State) | Natasha Hastings (South Carolina) |
| 2006 | Xavier Carter (LSU) | Ginnie Powell (USC) |
| 2005 | Kerron Clement (Florida) | Monique Henderson (UCLA) |
| 2004 | Alistair Cragg (Arkansas) | Sheena Johnson (UCLA) |
| 2003 | Daniel Lincoln (Arkansas) | Sanya Richards (Texas) |
| 2002 | Justin Gatlin (Tennessee) | Lashinda Demus (South Carolina) |
| 2001 | Janus Robberts (SMU) | Brianna Glenn (Arizona) |
| 2000 | Gábor Máté (Auburn) | Seilala Sua (UCLA) |
| 1999 | Terrence Trammell (South Carolina) | Suziann Reid (Texas) |
| 1998 | Angelo Taylor (Georgia Tech) | Amy Skieresz (Arizona) |
| 1997 | Robert Howard (Arkansas) | Tiffany Lott-Hogan (BYU) |
| 1996 | Ato Boldon (UCLA) | Tonya Williams (Illinois) |
| 1995 | John Godina (UCLA) | Diane Guthrie-Gresham (George Mason) |