Quick turnarounds for both competitors following finals one day earlier at Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships brings them to USC’s Galen Center to be recognized among 12 best NCAA female athletes in the country; Boston wins Honda Cup

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

LOS ANGELES – One night after running the second-fastest time in the world this year in the 200 meters, Abby Steiner traded in her blue and white Kentucky kit and spikes for a black dress and a pair of heels, standing on stage Monday alongside the best NCAA female athletes in the country at the 46th Collegiate Women’s Sports Awards Presented by Honda.

Whittni Orton-Morgan went from running the 5,000-meter final Sunday at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore., at the Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships to the former Brigham Young standout sitting 30 hours later in the Founders Room at USC’s Galen Center, surrounded by some of the most impactful women and coaches in the history of collegiate athletics.

ABBY STEINER INTERVIEW | WHITTNI ORTON-MORGAN INTERVIEW

Although neither individual captured the prestigious Honda Cup, awarded to South Carolina basketball player Aliyah Boston as the top female athlete this year in college sports, Orton-Morgan and Steiner both made history by being included among the 12 nominees.

Steiner became the first national female track and field selection from Kentucky, following Madison Lilley earning CWSA honors in volleyball last year and Jenny Hansen representing the Wildcats in gymnastics from 1994-96.

Orton-Morgan is the first honoree in any women’s sport for BYU, earning cross country recognition after capturing the national title Nov. 20 at Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee, Fla.

BYU had previously had finalists for the national awards in soccer, softball, volleyball and track and field, before Orton-Morgan was selected in cross country after capturing the first individual championship in women’s program history.

Kentucky previously had Keni Harrison as a track and field finalist in 2015, but Steiner is the first to receive the award for the Wildcats. Steiner, a 15-time All-American including 11 first-team honors, is the first 200-meter athlete to be selected since Oregon’s Jenna Prandini in 2015.

Steiner is also the first female competitor since former LSU standout Kimberlyn Duncan, a two-time CWSA national honoree in 2012-13, to win the triple crown of the NCAA Division 1 indoor and outdoor 200 titles, along with the U.S. national championship in the same year.

Steiner, the collegiate record holder in the indoor and outdoor 200 who also ran the American all-time indoor mark with her 22.09 effort Feb. 26 at Texas A&M, matched the No. 6 competitor in the U.S. and equaled the No. 18 performer in global history with her wind-legal 21.77 triumph Sunday at Hayward Field.

She also became only the second female athlete to ever produce a pair of wind-legal performances of 21.80 or faster on the same day with her 200 semifinal and championship efforts in Oregon. Florence Griffith-Joyner was the first to achieve the feat at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

Orton-Morgan, a five-time first-team All-American, finished eighth representing adidas in the 5,000 final in 15:59.85. It marked her first U.S. national final in any event after reaching the semifinals of the 1,500 at last year’s Olympic Trials.

The top three finalists for the Honda Cup were Florida gymnast Trinity Thomas, Oklahoma softball player Jocelyn Alo and Boston.

Arizona State graduate Maggie Ewen was the most recent track and field athlete to be included in the top three in 2018. Abbey Cooper of Dartmouth was the last cross country competitor to make the final three in 2014.

USC sprinter Angela Williams was the last Honda Cup winner representing track and field in 2002 and the fifth overall since 1980. There has still not been a cross country honoree for the overall top female college athlete in the 46-year history of the CWSA program.