UNTIL THE REGIONALS came along Rhema Otabor was having a pretty good season. The Nebraska junior had won the Big 10 at 189-9 (57.85) and taken the yearly collegiate lead in April with 194-6 (59.26), a lifetime best.
Then came the West Regional, where she barely survived. Otabor threw just 170-11, picking off the 12th and last qualifying berth, by 2 feet. Could she right the ship in Austin?
Because her qualifying mark was at the low end, she was placed in the lesser flight here. It didn’t take long. In the first round of the first flight she threw 193-8 (59.04) to take the lead, then improved that in round 2 to a lifetime-best 195-2 (59.49).
Although two Texas Aggies challenged her in the finals by going beyond 190ft — PRs for both Lianna Davidson and Katelyn Fairchild — the 195-2 held up for the championship.
Otabor said her ability to relax was a big reason for her success: “One of the big things I wanted to keep in mind is not to overthink, just let my body do what it knows how to do, and just go out there and have a breakthrough. And I feel like that’s what I did.”
Otabor, Aussie Davidson (192-10/58.78) and Fairchild (190-2/57.97) led a west-side takeover of the event as the first 6 finishers came from that part of the country, joined by fellow Nebraskan Maddie Harris in 4th and Missouri Tigers Skylar Ciccolini and Sophia Rivera in 5th and 6th. (Favored Madison Wiltrout of North Carolina ended up 8th in one of the deepest NCAAs ever.)
Otabor also credited the coaching of Justin St. Clair at Nebraska, her new home after two years at Florida International: “He was able to look at my technique from last year and help me run through things that were some major fixes to my runup.”
Otabor became the first Husker champion since Denise Thiemard 40 years ago, and the first Bahamian to win the event since Laverne Eve did so for LSU in ’87.
WOMEN’S JAVELIN RESULTS
(June 08)
1. *Rhema Otabor’ (Nb-Bah) 195-2 (59.49) PR (CL) (9, x NCAA)
(193-8, 195-2, 183-11, 185-11, f, 190-4) (59.04, 59.49, 56.06, 56.66, f, 58.03);
2. **Lianna Davidson’ (TxAM-Aus) 192-10 (58.78) PR
(189-4, 184-8, 181-0, 180-7, 192-10, 186-8) (57.70, 56.28, 55.18, 55.05, 58.78, 56.91);
3. **Katelyn Fairchild (TxAM) 190-2 (57.97) PR
(187-1, f, 176-9, 190-2, 175-5, f) (57.02, f, 53.87, 57.97, 53.48, f);
4. *Maddie Harris (Nb) 187-10 (57.26)
(187-10, 176-9, f, 178-11, 176-0, 162-3) (57.26, 53.87, f, 54.53, 53.64, 49.46);
5. **Skylar Ciccolini (Mo) 183-10 (56.03)
(166-3, 183-10, p, 172-9, 153-5, 175-2) (50.67, 56.03, p, 52.65, 46.77, 53.40);
6. Sophia Rivera’ (Mo-PR) 183-5 (55.92)
(161-7, 155-7, 183-5, 168-5, f, 162-2) (49.27, 47.43, 55.92, 51.35, f, 49.44);
7. Federica Botter’ (UCLA-Ita) 183-0 (55.79)
(183-0, f, 180-8, 171-9, 175-5, 172-4) (55.79, f, 55.08, 52.36, 53.48, 52.54);
8. Madison Wiltrout (NC) 180-7 (55.04)
(180-7, 164-8, 166-4, 173-3, 155-3, 167-2) (55.04, 50.21, 50.70, 52.81, 47.33, 50.96);
9. Megan Albamonti (De) 178-8 (54.46); 10. **Stella Weinberg’ (FlSt-Nor) 172-1 (52.45); 11. ***McKyla Van Der Westhuizen’ (Rice-SA) 171-6 (52.29); 12. ***Carolina Visca’ (Cal-Ita) 170-0 (51.83); 13. **Maria Bienvenu (LaL) 169-3 (51.58); 14. *Arianne Morais’ (UTEP-Nor) 168-8 (51.43); 15. *Dana Baker (Duke) 168-3 (51.29); 16. Ashton Riner (BYU) 167-4 (51.00); 17. **Leonie Troeger’ (Cinc-Ger) 164-1 (50.02); 18. Julia Harisay (Ga) 162-2 (49.42); 19. *Maura Huwalt (Aub) 160-10 (49.02); 20. Ilhame Tamrouti’ (Duke-Neth) 159-5 (48.61); 21. *Erin Long (Samf) 158-9 (48.40); 22. *Kate Joyce (Prin) 158-5 (48.30); 23. Roosa Yloenen’ (UTEP-Fin) 157-2 (47.90); 24. Erin McMeniman (Ga) 151-8 (46.24).
(best-ever mark-for-NCAA-place: 3–9)