Pitman’s Emily Galvin extended her own Rowan hammer throw record Saturday with a 183-7 as part of a monster series at the Oscar Moore Invitational in Glassboro.
Galvin, only in her 3rd year throwing the hammer, uncorked the five-best throws in Rowan history.
Galvin, a grad student who graduated from Villanova, has competed in the hammer in three meets so far this spring and broken the school record in all three.
The previous school record 164-11 set by Makayla Taylor last May in a meet at Moravian College in Bethlehem.
Galvin broke Taylor’s record in her first outdoor meet for Rowan, throwing 171-2 in mid-March in a meet in Lexington, Va., then she broke that with a 171-8 two weeks ago in Chester, Pa. She added nearly 12 feet to her own record Saturday with her 183-7.
Galvin had four legal throws over 180 feet and a fifth that was very close.
She opend with a foul, then hit 180-1, 181-4 and 183-6 on her next three throws, so she technically broke the school record three times in a row. She added a 180-3 and 178-11 on her last two throws.
Galvin averaged 180-10 on her five legal throws, so her average throw was more than nine feet beyond her previous school record.
Her 183-7 is No. 3 in NCAA Division 3 this year, behind only Kaitlyn Wilder of Dubuque (Iowa), who threw 193-6 in a meet at her home track, and Skye Digman of Wisconsin-La Crosse, who threw 187-8 at a meet at her home facility.
Galvin’s PR is 185-3 from her final meet as a Villanova Wildcat, when she placed 3rd at the 2022 Big East Championships in May in Storrs, Conn.
That’s No. 2 in Villanova history, behind Sade Meeks, who threw 195-5 at the same Big East meet last spring as a senior.
Galvin’s first lifetime hammer throw competition was the 2021 Villanova Opener on March 19, 2021, so she just passed her second anniversary as a hammer thrower.
Galvin had PRs of 31-6 ½ in the shot and 110-5 in the javelin at Pitman. She won the 2017 South Jersey Group 1 javelin title at Egg Harbor, but with her hammer success she hasn’t thrown the javelin since early in the 2021 season.
This past January, Galvin broke the Rowan school record in the 20-pound weight throw with a 55-3 ¾ in a meet at Ocean Breeze.
Galvin is not the only woman from Gloucester County ranked in the top-5 in NCAA Division 3 in the hammer throw.
Emily Hilt, a Kingsway graduate and a senior at Rutgers-Camden, ranks 5th with her PR 178-3 this past weekend at the Osprey Open in Galloway Township.
In their only head-to-head competition, Hilt edged Galvin at the Danny Curran Invitational at Widener University in Chester two weeks ago, Hilt with a 178-1 and Galvin with her then-school record 171-8.
Rowan and Rutgers-Camden are both scheduled to compete at the Widener Invitational back in Chester April 21-22 and Galvin and Hilt are both expected to throw at the Penn Relays. The women’s hammer is scheduled for Day 1 at Penn, which is Thursday, April 27.
Galvin and Hilt will meet again at the NJAC Championships in Mahwah May 6-7 and both have a very good chance of qualifying for the NCAA Division 3 Championships scheduled for May 25-27 at St. John Fisher University in Rochester, N.Y.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 