HE CAME IN undefeated by collegians on the year and Marc Minichello left with that credential intact on a day when the javelin had the best depth in recent memory. Never in the modern-javelin era had more than 3 men topped 250; here that more than doubled to 7.
Penn soph Minichello never trailed, although he did need to improve to score his win. He opened at 251-11 (76.78) and that stood up through the first two rounds. It would also have stood up through the third but he significantly upped the ante when his spear bit the earth at a PR 266-3 (81.17). That moved him to No. 7 in meet history.
Things got interesting in the fourth stanza when ACC champ Ethan Dabbs of Virginia added 10ft to his best on the day with a 261-0 (79.55) cast.
Minichello ruled round 5 with what would be the second-best mark of the day, 265-11 (81.05), but things tightened behind him as defending champ Tzuriel Pedigo moved into 3rd with his PR 258-10 (78.90) and favored Chinecherem Nnamdi moved to 4th with his 257-11 (78.61).
The final stanza saw more improvements as Dabbs hit 261-5 (79.68) but stayed 2nd. A 258-5 (78.86) PR moved Taran Taylor into 4th ahead of Chinecherem.
Said Minichello, “This journey has been long and lonely, but at the same time, a bunch of people have been right by my side. Being in the Ivy League, we have not had school the last two years. Track was something that if you wanted to do it, you had to make it happen. Luckily, I had the support of the coaches and my family the entire time. Together, we came up with the mantra that ‘no one is going to outwork me, and no one is going to do more, and hopefully one day it will be worth it.’ Today, I can definitely say it was all worth it.”
MEN’S JAVELIN RESULTS
(June 08)
1. **Marc Minichello (Penn) 266-3 (81.17) PR (9, x AmC; 7, x NCAA)
(251-11, 250-6, 266-3, 256-7, 265-11, 241-8) (76.78, 76.37, 81.17, 78.21, 81.05, 73.66);
2. *Ethan Dabbs (Va) 261-5 (79.68)
(250-2, 250-7, f, 261-0, 236-10, 261-5) (76.25, 76.38, f, 79.55, 72.20, 79.68);
3. **Tzuriel Pedigo (LSU) 258-10 (78.90) PR
(236-3, 230-1, 245-7, f, 258-10, 249-5) (72.02, 70.14, 74.86, f, 78.90, 76.03);
4. *Taran Taylor (Wich) 258-5 (78.76) PR
(237-5, 232-7, 231-1, f, 245-3, 258-5) (72.37, 70.90, 70.43, f, 74.75, 78.76);
5. ***Chinecherem Nnamdi’ (Bay-Ngr) 257-11 (78.61)
(243-11, 221-3, 253-3, 252-0, 257-11, 256-0) (74.36, 67.44, 77.20, 76.80, 78.61, 78.03);
6. **Arthur Petersen’ (UTA-Den) 250-5 (76.34)
(250-5, 230-8, f, 238-5, 235-11, f) (76.34, 70.32, f, 72.67, 71.92, f);
7. **DJ Jonsson’ (MsSt-Ice) 250-3 (76.29)
(233-3, 235-4, 244-5, 234-9, f, 250-3) (71.11, 71.74, 74.51, 71.57, f, 76.29);
8. *Ahmed Magour’ (Ga-Qat) 239-11 (73.14)
(239-11, f, 224-7, f, f, f) (73.14, f, 68.45, f, f, f);
9. Markim Felix’ (TxT-Grn) 237-2 (72.30) PR; 10. ***Ty Hampton (Or) 236-7 (72.12); 11. ***Evan Niedrowski (Monm) 230-4 (70.22); 12. *Eli Gaughan (LSU) 228-1 (69.53); 13. Cord Neal (SFA) 225-1 (68.62); 14. **Jackson Morris (CoSt) 223-2 (68.03); 15. **Ashton Domingue (Samf) 223-0 (67.98) PR; 16. Mark Porter (Fl) 222-10 (67.93); 17. **Marten Gasparini’ (GCan-Ita) 221-6 (67.51); 18. **Braden Presser (Navy) 220-6 (67.21); 19. *Roan Allen’ (Wa-Can) 218-0 (66.46); 20. *Michael Whittaker (BYU) 216-5 (65.96); 21. **Jared O’Riley (Az) 214-7 (65.42); 22. **Scott Campbell (Duke) 213-4 (65.02); 23. James McNaney (Rice) 211-11 (64.60); 24. *Luke Jackson (Duke) 209-7 (63.89).
(best-ever mark-for-NCAA-place: 4–7)