Rancocas Valley graduate Danielle Steff threw a personal-best 164-2 in the javelin Thursday and advanced in the NCAA Division 1 track championships.
Steff, a sophomore at Monmouth, was among 12 women who advanced out of the NCAA East Preliminary Round at Hodges Stadium in Jacksonville. They’ll be joined by 12 women from the West Preliminary Round at the NCAA Championships in Austin next month.
Steff came in with a PR of 163-1 a meet at Moravian last month. After throwing 143-11 and 151-4 on her first two attempts, she was sitting in 22nd place going into her third and final throw and needed to throw at least 162-5 to advance.
She not only hit 162-5, she popped a PR and came within two inches of the Monmouth school record of 164-4, set in 2014 by Kelsey Reese.
Steff moved up from No. 4 on the all-time Monmouth list to No. 2, passing Burlington Township graduate Faith Blamon, who threw 162-7 in 2017.
Steff’s 164-2 was 10th-best in the East and 17th-best including the throwers from the NCAA Division 1 West Preliminary Round in Sacramento.
Nationals run from June 5-8 at Mike A. Myers Stadium at the University of Texas in Austin. The javelin is scheduled for 8:15 p.m. that Thursday, June 6.
