SPEED WAS THE KEY to winning T&FN’s Outdoor Collegiate Athlete Of The Year awards in ’22. Trey Cunningham of Florida State did it with hurdles in the way, Kentucky’s Abby Steiner did it without.
Cunningham was undefeated during the campaign, wrapping things up by missing the CR in the 110H by just 0.02. That equaled the No. 2 collegiate performance ever. He also produced the =No. 7 (13.07) and =No. 9 (13.10) marks.
Honorable mention to NCAA 100/200 double champ Joe Fahnbulleh of Florida and decathlon winner Ayden Owens-Delerme. AOD set a CR in the decathlon, but lost that to Kyle Garland before handling Garland in Eugene. CR setters in general didn’t fare well at the Nationals, all failing to win: Eliud Kipsang 1500, Abdihamid Nur 5000, Mykolas Alekna DT and Garland.
As for Steiner, she sewed things up with a busy final day at the NCAA by lowering the CR in the 200 to 21.80 after taking 3rd in the 100. Our AOY honors are individually based, so she got no extra credit for being on the winning 4×4 (or the earlier CR 4×4), but her brilliant relay legs of 48.78 and 48.92 did aid her cause.
Honorable mention to Cal’s 3-time hammer CR setter Camryn Rogers, steeple CR setter Courtney Wayment of BYU, Ohio State’s shot CR setter Adelaide Aquilla and Florida all-arounder Anna Hall.
The all-time winners, since we began this award in ’95 (athletes are listed with the last name they were using at the time):
| Year | Men’s AOY | Women’s AOY |
| 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) |