VERMILLION, S.D.—There will be no Bowerman presented this year, as announced by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association late last week, but Chris Nilsen would have been a strong candidate as a finalist for The Bowerman in 2020.
 
The award, dubbed the Heisman of collegiate track and field, was presented annually from 2009-2019 to the most outstanding male and female athlete in the nation. The COVID-19 pandemic upended Nilsen's senior season the day before the NCAA Indoor Championships. The outdoor season never began.
 
Nilsen was a two-time semifinalist for The Bowerman and a three-time NCAA Champion in the pole vault. He was the favorite entering the 2020 NCAA Indoor Championships and was on the final Bowerman Watch List entering the meet.
 
In March, Nilsen was voted as the National Indoor Field Athlete of the Year by the USTFCCCA. He became South Dakota's first National Athlete of the Year in the program's Division I era.
 
Nilsen boasts a personal best of 19 feet, 6 ¼ inches, which he set in the pole vault at the 2019 NCAA Outdoor Championships. The height set the NCAA Outdoor Championship meet record. Nilsen followed that by breaking the NCAA indoor record with a clearance of 19-5 ½ at the Nebraska Tune-Up in February. He has vaulted past 19-feet at 14 meets during his career.
 
Nilsen plans to compete in the Diamond League, which brings together the best athletes around the world, this fall with meets in and around Europe. He hopes to improve upon his seventh-place world ranking by the close of this season. Nilsen will begin the training process for the 2021 Olympic Trials in October working with collegiate coach Derek Miles as a consultant.