JUST THE MENTION of Texas makes Elísabet Rut Rúnarsdóttir’s face light up. As much as mention of the Icelandic hammer record, 230-9 (70.33), she threw in March.
“I just love living in Texas,” says Rúnarsdóttir, a Texas State soph in San Marcos. “After all, we can workout outside almost year round.”
Rúnarsdóttir, who placed 7th last year as a frosh, took advantage of that climate accommodation and thought she was ready for the NCAA. But she started slowly in the second flight — a first round throw of 220-6 (67.22) put her in 3rd and a second-round foul dropped her to 5th.
”I had to settle down and focus on what we had been working on,” she said. “A lot of little things.”
It paid off. On her third throw, she spun a new PR and Iceland Record of 231-2 (70.47).
Her fellow Icelander Guðrún Hallgrímsdóttir of Virginia Commonwealth had taken a first-round lead at 226-0 (68.89). Following each other in the throwing order, they would exchange fist bumps at the ring.
“We’ve been friends since 2016, so we cheer for each other,” said Rúnarsdóttir.
Hallgrímsdóttir would improve to 226-9 (69.12) on her fifth throw, but tumbled to 5th in the final standings.
Rice’s Tara Simpson-Sullivan, out of the UK, advanced to the finals on her third-rounder of 222-10 (67.93) in flight 1, which would stand until frame 5 when she upped her PR to 229-5 (69.94) for 2nd.
Ole Miss’s indoor weight titlist Jalani Davis rated No. 5 on our formchart coming in — and had a 225-3 (68.78) season’s best — but opened with two fouls before earning a spot in the finals with 220-5 (67.18). She would improve her PR to 229-2 (69.86) and place 3rd ahead of Oregon’s Shelby Moran, who was just short of a PR with 227-9 (69.43).
Stephanie Ratcliffe, the ’23 winner, fouled three times and missed the finals.
Rúnarsdóttir’s post-comp agenda is to fly to Rome for the European Championships — with women’s hammer qualifying set to commence at 10:05 am local time on June 09.
With a twinkle in her eye, Rúnarsdóttir declared as she finished post-comp interviews, “And it’s still snowing in Iceland!”
WOMEN’S HAMMER RESULTS
(June 06)
1. **Elísabet Rut Rúnarsdóttir’ (TxSt-Ice) 231-2 (70.47) NR
(220-6, f, 231-2, 229-8, 225-10, f) (67.22, f, 70.47, 70.00, 68.84, f);
2. Tara Simpson-Sullivan’ (Rice-GB) 229-5 (69.94) PR
(f, 191-1, 222-10, 208-9, 229-5, f) (f, 58.24, 67.93, 63.63, 69.94, f);
3. Jalani Davis (Ms) 229-2 (69.86) PR
(220-10, f, 220-5, 229-2, f, f) (67.33, f, 67.18, 69.86, f, f);
4. Shelby Moran (Or) 227-9 (69.43)
(f, 223-4, 227-5, 227-9, f, 223-3) (f, 68.09, 69.33, 69.43, f, 68.04);
5. *Guðrún Hallgrímsdóttir’ (VaC-Ice) 226-9 (69.12)
(226-0, 210-2, f, f, 215-5, 226-9) (68.89, 64.06, f, f, 65.67, 69.12);
6. Mayyi Mahama (UCLA) 225-4 (68.69) PR
(211-0, 202-4, 218-4, 225-4, f, f) (64.31, 61.67, 66.56, 68.69, f, f);
7. *Shelby Frank (Mn) 224-5 (68.40) PR
(203-9, 224-5, f, f, f, 220-5) (62.10, 68.40, f, f, f, 67.19);
8. Amber Simpson’ (Il-GB) 222-2 (67.73)
(217-10, 210-10, 222-2, 219-3, 215-8, 212-6) (66.41, 64.26, 67.73, 66.82, 65.74, 64.78);
9. ***Kate Powers (Ky) 215-7 (65.72) PR
(199-3, 215-7, f, f, f, 201-9) (60.74, 65.72, f, f, f, 61.51);
10. *Emily Fink (Army) 213-3 (65.01); 11. **Paola Bueno’ (Lib-Mex) 211-4 (64.43) PR; 12. *Michaelle Valentin’ (FlInt-Hai) 211-0 (64.33) NR; 13. Samantha Kunza (StLouis) 207-7 (63.29); 14. ***Lara Roberts’ (TxSt-Aus) 206-11 (63.06); 15. Ludith Campos’ (Alb-Dom) 205-9 (62.72) NR; 16. Lexi Maples’ (NDSt-NZ) 203-3 (61.96); 17. Olivia Roberts (Wi) 203-0 (61.88); 18. ***Skylar Soli (Ms) 202-6 (61.72); 19. Moorea Mitchell (Duke) 201-4 (61.36) PR; 20. Mackenzie Wilson’ (Me-Can) 201-1 (61.31); 21. Amelia Dipaola (Fres) 200-2 (61.01); 22. **Hillevi Carlsson’ (Nb-Swe) 199-10 (60.91);… 3f—*Marie Forbes’ (Clem-Jam), *Stephanie Ratcliffe’ (Ga-Aus).