LA JOLLA, CALIFORNIA, April 06 — Oregon’s Jaida Ross set alight UC San Diego’s Triton Invitational with a Collegiate Record, 64-8 (19.71), in the shot that perhaps Duck throws coach Brian Blutreich saw coming but others may not have.
An Oregon junior, Ross certainly garnered attention in January when she threw 61-9¾ (18.84) at the Razorback Invitational. That marked an improvement of more than a foot on her lifetime best set at Triton last year and jumped her to No. 9 on the Collegiate indoor ATL.
But the addition of nearly 3 more feet to her PR here shot Ross — pardon the pun — to another level altogether. The Oregon native opened well at 60-3¼ (18.37) in sunny, breezy SoCal and went 59-11¼ (18.27) on her second.
Then came the explosion as the rotational putter whirled across the circle for her third. Ross knew it was a big one and clapped hands to celebrate as the ball bounced into a log barrier at the back of the sector. Measurement showed the ball had flown 2¾ inches past Adelaide Aquilla’s CR. Aquilla, an Ohio State senior at the time, had nailed her long one in winning the ’22 NCAA.
Ross’s record, in a sense, “unifies” the CRs with coach Blutreich, who guided Jorinde van Klinken to the indoor CR, 64-2½. (19.57), last year — and before that, in ’21, the discus CR, 230-4 (70.22), when both coach and athlete were at Arizona State.
A day earlier at Triton, Ross had raised her discus PR by 2-1 (68cm) to 193-1 (58.31) placing 6th in a comp won by world champion Lagi Tausaga at 214-6 (65.38).
SELECTED TRITON RESULTS
SP: 1. *Jaida Ross (Or) 64-8 (19.71) CR (old CR 64-5¼/19.64 Adelaide Aquilla [OhSt] ’22) (9, x A) (60-3¼, 59-11¼, 64-8, f, 61-5, 61-2¾) (18.37, 18.27, 19.71, f, 18.72, 18.66);
2. **Alida Van Daalen’ (Fl-Neth) 59-4¾ (18.10); 3. *Cierra Jackson (Fres) 57-¾ (17.39); 4. Amelia Campbell’ (GB) 56-5¼ (17.20); 5. ***Gracelyn Leiseth (Fl) 55-1 (16.79).
DT: 1. Lagi Tausaga (Nik) 214-6 (65.38); 2. Van Daalen’ 204-2 (62.23); 3. Patricia Kamga’ (Swe) 198-4 (60.46).
BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA, April 06 — Some 500 miles up the coast from La Jolla at the Brutus Hamilton Invitational, Mykolas Alekna spun his platter out to 234-2 (71.39) to take the world lead in the early Olympic year campaign.
The throw moved Alekna, 21, to No. 10 all-time, striking the late Ben Plucknett and his 234-0…
CLICK HERE to Read the Full Original Article at Track & Field News…