AFTER FOUR ROUNDS of the women’s javelin, Nebraska’s Rhema Otabor, the defending champion, was in trouble. She had four throws in the mid-180s, topping out at 186-10 (56.95), well behind Texas A&M’s Lianna Davidson, whose first-round 199-2 (60.70) PR was looking like a winner.
Then came the bombshell. Otabor, a 21-year-old senior from Nassau in the Bahamas, unloaded a history-making throw of 210-7 (64.19), breaking the meet and Collegiate Records (Maggie Malone 204-0 in ’16) and even surpassing Laverne Eve’s Bahamian national record (209-1/63.73 in ’00).
(Eve, the NCAA champion for LSU in ’87, is a legend in the islands. She went to 5 Olympics and won the Bahamian nationals 14 times, the last time in ’12 at age 47. Now, Otabor has passed her.)
“I can’t believe that I just threw that,” Otabor said. “I still can’t believe it.
“I started to get frustrated because I felt that my throws had gone beyond 56 [meters)], but I would see 56 show up on the monitor. When I was finally able to get the 64, I freaked out and was beyond happy.”
This puts Otabor in the Olympic conversation as she moves to No. 5 on the current world list. In ’23 she was runner-up at Pan-Ams and made Worlds, but failed to advance to the final.
“In my heart, I already knew that I was going to go to Paris,” Otabor said. “I am going to stick with the plan I already had in mind, but with a little less stress because I already have the standard. I will just try to work on cleaning up some things on my runway and hopefully being more consistent over 60m.”
There were plenty of other PRs in the spirited competition, including by Rice’s McKyla van der Westhuizen, whose final-round 188-8 (57.51) moved her to 3rd, and by fellow Nebraska Cornhusker Enikő Sára, 182-7 (55.66) in 5th.
Sára and Otabor join Maddie Harris, the ’22 runner-up, as javelin All-Americans for Nebraska coach Justin St. Clair the past few seasons.
WOMEN’S JAVELIN RESULTS
(June 06)
1. Rhema Otabor’ (Nb-Bah) 210-7 (64.19) CR (old CR 204-0/62.19 Maggie Malone [TxAM] ’16)
(184-10, 185-7, 185-7, 186-10, 210-7, f) (56.34, 56.58, 56.56, 56.95, 64.19, f);
2. *Lianna Davidson’ (TxAM-Aus) 199-2 (60.70) PR (7, 10 C)
(199-2, f, 192-9, f, 186-2, 197-0) (60.70, f, 58.75, f, 56.74, 60.04);
3. **McKyla Van Der Westhuizen’ (Rice-SA) 188-8 (57.51) PR
(182-3, 174-11, f, 172-10, 181-0, 188-8) (55.56, 53.33, f, 52.68, 55.18, 57.51);
4. ***Irene Jepkemboi’ (TCU-Ken) 185-4 (56.51)
(171-4, 155-4, 185-4, 179-1, 167-4, 163-2) (52.22, 47.34, 56.51, 54.59, 51.00, 49.75);
5. *Enikő Sára’ (Nb-Can) 182-7 (55.66) PR
(f, 182-7, 177-0, 164-0, 167-10, 163-11)
(f, 55.66, 53.94, 50.00, 51.16, 49.96);
6. *Skylar Ciccolini (Mo) 180-8 (55.06)
(174-3, 149-10, 180-8, f, 155-6, 159-6) (53.13, 45.68, 55.06, f, 47.41, 48.63);
7. ***Trinity Spooner (LSU) 179-10 (54.81)
(162-1, 169-11, 179-10, 166-8, 170-0, 164-0) (49.41, 51.79, 54.81, 50.80, 51.82, 49.98);
8. *Deisiane Teixeira’ (Mia-Bra) 178-11 (54.54)
(175-10, f, f, 178-11, f, 167-0) (53.61, f, f, 54.54, f, 50.91);
9. Kayla Thorpe (Md) 175-4 (53.44) PR
(f, 164-11, 175-4, f, 174-6, f) (f, 50.28, 53.44, f, 53.18, f);
10. Erin McMeniman (Ga) 174-11 (53.32) PR; 11. Arianne Morais’ (UTEP-Nor) 174-0 (53.05); 12. Federica Botter’ (UCLA-Ita) 173-2 (52.78); 13. ***Evelyn Bliss (Buck) 173-1 (52.77); 14. **Emma Yungeberg (Mi) 171-9 (52.36) PR; 15. Mirta Kulišić’ (Nb-Cro) 170-0 (51.82); 16. **Shea Greene (Prin) 169-2 (51.57); 17. *Maria Bienvenu (TCU) 165-9 (50.52); 18. **Christiana Ellina’ (FlInt-Cyp) 165-0 (50.31); 19. *Emanuela Casadei’ (Nb-Ita) 164-10 (50.24); 20. *Casey Bogues (Day) 164-6 (50.15); 21. *Elizabeth Bailey (UNCC) 163-11 (49.96); 22. **Harriette Mortlock’ (Fres-GB) 161-11 (49.37); 23. *Ella Knott (MsSt) 161-11 (49.35); 24. Shaniya Holley (Aub) 156-0 (47.55).