A pair of long hurdlers—Rai Benjamin of USC and Sydney McLaughlin of Kentucky—turned in the top single performances of the collegiate outdoor season with their CRs of 47.02 and 52.75. Each ended up with only honorable mention honors in our selection of Collegiate Outdoor Athletes Of The Year. Narrowly edging out Benjamin and McLaughlin were Michael Norman of USC and Maggie Ewen of Arizona State.
In becoming the first Trojan men’s winner of the honor, Norman not only ran 43.61 at the NCAA, but also produced the fastest collegiate relay split ever, 43.06, at the West Regional.
As for Ewen, Arizona State’s first-ever women’s winner, while she didn’t score her hoped-for NCAA throws triple, she did win both the shot and discus. Earlier in the season she had claimed the CR in the shot (63-10¼/19.46) and hammer (twice: 241-6/73.61 & 244-6/75.43).
The all-time winners (women are listed with the last name they were using at the time):
| Year | Men’s AOY | Women’s AOY |
| 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) |