How Saskatchewan hurdler Savannah Sutherland put herself in mix for prestigious NCAA award

Steven Rajewsky realized Savannah Sutherland belonged at the world level when he watched her become the youngest-ever Canadian to reach an Olympic track final and perform well against the best female hurdlers.

At 21, Sutherland placed seventh in the women’s 400-metre event of her 2024 Summer Games debut in Paris, a race won by world record holder Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone in 50.37 seconds, 3.5 ahead of Sutherland, while current world No. 1 Femke Bol was third (52.15).

Sutherland’s Olympic experience, which also included a sixth-place finish in the women’s 4x400 relay, prepared the native of Borden, Sask., for her senior year at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

“She was very focused [to start 2025] as you'd expect from a fourth-year competitor [in the NCAA] with the global experiences under her belt,” Rajewsky, the assistant coach of track and field at Michigan, told CBC Sports. “She possessed the knowledge she needed to navigate on and off the track.”

On Thursday night, the now 22-year-old Sutherland’s year in athletics could end with her being named the first Canadian female recipient of The Bowerman, U.S. collegiate track and field’s highest individual honour.

The versatile Sutherland, who also runs the flat 400, is up against Kenyan runners Pamela Kosgei (University of New Mexico) and Doris Lemngole (University of Alabama) for the award named after Bill Bowerman, the legendary Oregon track and field coach and Nike co-founder.

The most outstanding athletes in men’s and women’s track and field will be unveiled at the United States Track & Field and Cross-Country Coaches Association convention in Grapevine, Texas.

Camryn Rogers, the reigning world and Olympic champion hammer thrower from Richmond, B.C., was a finalist for the Bowerman in 2022, 10 years after heptathlete Brianne Theisen of Humboldt, Sask.

High jumper Derek Drouin is the most recent Canadian to capture the award in 2013, the year after Cam Levins, Canada’s record holder in the men’s marathon and half marathon.

On July 7, Sutherland was the first Canadian track-specific athlete named a Bowerman finalist, first female from the Big 10 conference and first from the Michigan Wolverines program, male or female.

“Any and all of these firsts would resonate with great pride for Borden, Canada, Michigan and the Big 10,” said Rajewsky, who will continue coaching Sutherland in Ann Arbor after the Adidas-sponsored athlete turned pro in the summer.

“She always has pride in representing those who have continued to support her. Her family, home and her country are consistently at the top of that list.”

Sutherland didn’t let up in the summer following an indoor season during which she set a Canadian and Wolverine record in the 400m dash at the NCAA Division 1 championships, won a Big 10 title for the second year in a row and set a program mark in the 200 (23.26 seconds).

She won four of her five finals in the 400 hurdles and two races in the 400 — at the Edmonton Athletics Invitational, where she qualified for the 2025 World Athletics Championships, and Canadian track and field championships in Ottawa.