Cherokee graduate Jessica Woodard, who finished the indoor season winning All-America honors in the shot put for the fifth time, opened her 2018 outdoor season by throwing 187-5 in the discus, an Oklahoma school record.
Woodard placed second Aztec Invitational at the Aztrack Sports Deck on the San Diego State campus.
She broke the Sooners school record of 186-1 set in 2010 by Brittany Borman at the North Texas Classic in Denton, Texas.
Although Woodard was a Meet of Champions winner in both the shot and discus while at Cherokee, she’s enjoyed more success in the shot put in college. However, the 187-5 now puts her among the elite in NCAA Division 1 in a second event.
Her previous discus PR was a 185-9 last spring at the NCAA Western Regionals in Austin.
On Saturday, she finished one inch behind Tarasue Barnett of Grand Canyon University of Phoenix, who threw 187-6.
Woodard fouled on her first two attempts before hitting the PR on her third. She threw 175-10 and 168-10 on her only other two legal throws.
Woodard has a shot put PR of 60-2 3/4 from the Big 12 outdoor championships last year. She followed her discus performance with a 57-7 to win the shot put.
“Obviously a school record mark with Jess Woodard in the women’s discus is a great thing,” Oklahoma coach Jim VanHootegem said.
“When you think of OU track and field, it’s pretty special to throw the farthest anyone has ever thrown. I might’ve been more impressed with her efforts to come back and win the shot put. I think she was pretty tired and struggling but she found a way in the end. That’s what leaders do and good athletes do.”
Woodard actually now ranks No. 1 in NCAA Division 1 in the shot put and No. 4 in the discus two weeks into the outdoor season.
The third-place finisher in the discus was UCLA freshman Alyssa Wilson, who threw 176-10. Wilson set the national high school shot put record of 57-1 1/4 last spring for Donovan Catholic of Toms River at the Ocean County championships in Jackson, then broke that record by throwing 58-1 at the Pan Am Juniors in Trujillo, Peru.
Wilson didn’t throw the shot Saturday, although she did place second in the hammer at 198-9. She was the U.S. junior national champion in the hammer last year.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 