Delsea graduate Elisia Lancaster is off to a tremendous start this winter in the weight throw.
Lancaster, a senior at Southern Illinois, ranks No. 6 in NCAA Division 1 with her personal-best 72-7, which she threw in a meet in January in Nashville.
Her previous PR throwing the 20-pound weight appears was 64-9 from February of 2020 while competing for Towson at a meet at Ocean Breeze. Her best since transferring to Southern Illinois was a 64-7 3/4 from last winter in a meet in Terre Haute, Ind.
Lancaster has backed up her 72-7 with three more big throws – 70-6 1/2 at another meet in Terre Haute, 71-8 3/4 in Bloomington and 69-6 1/4 this past weekend at a home meet in Carbondale, Ill.
She’s No. 1 in the Missouri Valley Conference, and Southern Illinois has the top-five weight throwers in the conference as of this weekend.
Her 72-7 ranks No. 6 in Southern Illinois history. The school record of 83-10 1/4 was set by Brittany Riley in 2007 in Albuquerque and is the former world record – or technically world best, since it’s not an IAAF event. Riley threw 83-10 1/4 in a meet in Fayetteville in 2007, and that stood as the world best until Gwen Berry threw 83-11 3/4 in Albuquerque in 2017.
Lancaster began her track career at Rowan College Gloucester County, where she first picked up the hammer. She won six national JUCO titles in the throws at Rowan Gloucester, and then competed briefly for Towson – from January through March of 2020 – before resurfacing at Southern Illinois last indoor season.
Lancaster has a hammer PR of 207-11 from a meet in Lawrence, Kan., this past April. She ranked No. 42 among U.S. women last year in the hammer.
At Delsea, Lancaster threw 39-8 in the shot and 124-5 in the discus.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 