Adelaide Aquilla capped off her Ohio State career by breaking an NCAA record.
Aquilla won the NCAA outdoor title in the shot put for the second year in a row and broke the women‘s NCAA shot put record in the process on Thursday night at the 2022 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon.
On her very first throw of the competition, Aquilla launched the shot put 64 feet and 5 1/4 inches, breaking the previous NCAA record of 63 feet, 10 1/4 inches set by Arizona State’s Maggie Ewen in 2018.
Aquilla’s record-setting throw was more than three feet longer than the second-place throw (60 feet, 11 1/2 inches) of Arizona State’s Jorinde Van Klinken, who defeated Aquilla to win the NCAA indoor championship in March. Aquilla’s toss on Thursday night is also the fourth-longest throw by any female shot putter in the world this year.
A HUGE congratulations to @adelaideaquilla on breaking the collegiate record and her own program record to defend her NCAA outdoor shot put title!! She earns 10 points for the team after beating the field by more than one meter and having the FOUR best throws!#GoBucks pic.twitter.com/FvMEmDeviN
— Ohio State T&F/XC (@OhioStateTFXC) June 10, 2022
at this point you just build a trophy room, right?
— Ohio State Buckeyes (@OhioStAthletics) June 10, 2022
3x NCAA shot put champion & 2020 @TeamUSA Olympian @adelaideaquilla #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/iDCMglioMF
Thursday night’s record-breaking performance, which came in Aquilla’s final event as a Buckeye, cements her standing as one of Ohio State’s all-time track and field greats. She previously won both the indoor and outdoor NCAA championships in the shot put in 2021, when she also made the U.S. Olympic team. Aquilla also holds Ohio State’s indoor record in the shot put (62 feet, 6.31 inches) and the school record in the discus (189 feet, 9.95 inches).
The NCAA Outdoor Championships continue on Friday and Saturday. Buckeyes vying for titles over the next two days will include Eric Harrison, who had the second-fastest time (20.18 seconds) in the men’s 200-meter dash semifinals Wednesday, and Anavia Battle, who had the fourth-fastest time (22.26 seconds) in the women’s 200-meter dash semifinals Thursday.
ESPN2 will broadcast the final night of men’s competition from 9-11:30 p.m. Friday, while ESPN will broadcast the final night of women’s competition from 5:30-8 p.m. Saturday. The full schedule of events and live results can be found on the NCAA’s official website.
