| Birth Date: | 26 July 1993 |
| Birth Place: | Memphis, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Event: | Heptathlon |
| Collegeteam: | Mississippi State Bulldogs |
| Pb: | Heptathlon: 6557 (2017) Pentathlon: 4760 (2018) |
Erica Marsha Bougard (born July 26, 1993) is an American heptathlete. She was NCAA indoor champion in 2013 and represented the United States at the 2013 World Championships.
Erica Bougard was born in Memphis, Tennessee, but grew up in Byhalia, Mississippi. Her first sport was basketball; she took up track and field at Byhalia High School. Erica Bougard won 2011 Mississippi High School Activities Association state outdoor track and field long jump title. Erica was the 2011 Mississippi state long jump leader.
Erica went to Mississippi State University on a track scholarship.[1]
She won the heptathlon at the 2012 United States Junior Championships, scoring 5547 points; she trailed Kendell Williams through six events, but overtook her in the 800 meters.[2] She made her international debut at the 2012 World Junior Championships in Barcelona, placing 13th.[3] In the heptathlon, Bougard is strong in the five running and jumping events, but weak in the shot put and javelin throw.[4]
As a sophomore, Bougard won the pentathlon at the 2013 NCAA indoor championships, scoring a school record 4399 points.[1] At the outdoor NCAA meet she placed fourth in the heptathlon (with a personal best 5976 points) and sixteenth in the long jump. Two weeks later, she improved to 5990 points at the 2013 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, placing third and qualifying for the senior World Championships in Moscow.[3] Bougard scored 5829 points at the World Championships, placing 24th.
At the 2014 NCAA indoor championships Bougard was second to Williams with 4586 points; both Williams and Bougard broke the previous collegiate record of 4569 points by Makeba Alcide.[5] Outdoors, Bougard redshirted the collegiate season but broke 6000 points for the first time at the United States championships, repeating her third place from the previous year with 6118 points.[6]
In 2015 Bougard again placed second to Williams at the NCAA indoor meet, this time with 4566 points;[7] outdoors, she scored a personal best 6250 points at the SEC championships and entered the NCAA outdoor championships as the collegiate leader, but only placed fourth as Akela Jones won.[7] At the 2015 USATF championships Bougard placed third for the third consecutive year, improving her best to 6288 points and qualifying for the World Championships in Beijing.[8]
In 2016, Bougard completed in three events at 2016 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships in in long jump to place 12th, in high jump to place 5th and 6088 points in heptathlon to place 2nd. Three weeks later, Bougard placed seventh in heptathlon scoring 6070 points at 2016 United States Olympic Trials (track and field).[9] She is openly lesbian.[10]
| Event | 2012 World Jr | 2017 World Outdoor | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13.79 -1.6 (m/s) | 13.73 -1.0 (m/s) | 13.53 4.9 (m/s) | 13.69 −0.6 (m/s) | 13.28 0.9 (m/s) | 13.03 0.9 (m/s) | 13.28 -0.7 (m/s) | 13.11 -0.1 (m/s) | 12.93 -0.1 (m/s) | 13.24 -0.0 (m/s) | ||||
| 1008 points | 1017 points | 1046 points | 1023 points | 1083 points | 1120 points | 1083 points | 1108 points | 1135 points | 1089 points | ||||
| 916 points | 879 points | 953 points | 978 points | 953 points | 1080 points | 1016 points | 1029 points | 1132 points | 903 points | ||||
| 494 points | 544 points | 554 points | 613 points | 616 points | 527 points | 621 points | 681 points | 660 points | 622 points | ||||
| 24.61 -0.6 (m/s) | 24.64 -1.5 (m/s) | 23.56 0.1 (m/s) | 24.59 0.0 (m/s) | 23.33 2.6 (m/s) | 23.40 2.3 (m/s) | 24.41 +0.2 (m/s) | 23.94 -1.6 (m/s) | 23.40 + 0.2 (m/s) | 23.66 + 0.2 (m/s) | ||||
| 923 points | 920 points | 1023 points | 925 points | 1046 points | 1039 points | 942 points | 986 points | 1039 points | 1014 points | ||||
-0.3 (m/s) | +2.5 (m/s) | +2.6 (m/s) | +0.0 (m/s) | +0.0 (m/s) | +1.4 (m/s) | +0.1 (m/s) | +2.3 (m/s) | +1.1 (m/s) | +1.1 (m/s) | ||||
| 859 points | 795 points | 918 points | 853 points | 915 points | 890 points | 905 points | 953 points | 962 points | 877 points | ||||
| 446 points | 367 points | 564 points | 526 points | 535 points | 644 points | 573 points | 472 points | 686 points | 548 points | ||||
| 2:14.39 | 2:15.36 | 2:12.25 | 2:13.72 | 2:09.64 | 2:08.39 | DNS | 2:18.74 | 2:11.51 | 2:08.77 | ||||
| 901 points | 888 points | 932 points | 911 points | 970 points | 988 points | DNS | 841 points | 943 points | 983 points | ||||
| Total Points | 5547 points | 5410 points | 5990 points | 5829 points | 6118 points | 6288 points | DNF | 6070 points | 6557 points | 6036 points | |||
| Place | bgcolor=gold | 1st | 13th | 3rd | 24th | 3rd | 3rd | DNF | 7th | bgcolor=silver | 2nd | 18th |
| Championship | Place | Score | 800 metres | |||||
| bgcolor=gold | 1st | 4558 points | 1082 points 8.21 s | 1067 points | 659 points | 905 points | 845 points 2:18.41 | |
| bgcolor=gold | 1st | 4760 points | 1134 points 7.98 s | 1093 points | 711 points | 912 points | 910 points 2:13.77 | |