Pitman graduate Emily Galvin, a senior at Rowan, recorded one of the top hammer throws in NCAA Division 3 history Saturday and placed 2nd at the NCAA Championships at St. John Fisher in Rochester, N.Y.
Galvin threw 177-6 on her 1st attempt before popping a 184-3 on her 2nd, not far off her lifetime best of 186-9, which she just threw a week and a half ago in Selinsgrove, Pa.
On her 3rd throw, Galvin put it all together and surpassed the 190-foot barrier for the first time, moving from 4th into 2nd at 190-10.
That puts her at No. 22 in NCAA Division 3 history.
Alexis Boykin, a sophomore at MIT in Cambridge, threw 195-5 on her 2nd attempt to win the competition. That’s No. 9 in NCAA Division 3 history.
In the finals, neither Boykin nor Galvin improved on their throws in the first round. They were the only competitors who surpassed 190 feet. Galvin did add a 187-6 on her 5th attempt – her 2nd-best throw ever.
Galvin’s 2nd-place finish is highest by a Rowan woman at Division 3 nationals since Kathy Darling from Milford, Del., won her 2nd consecutive discus title in 2001 in Decatur, Ill.
Galvin is the first Rowan woman ever to earn All-America honors in the hammer and the first in any of the throws since Cherokee’s Melissa Lake placed 8th in the javelin with a throw of 137-6 at the 2013 meet in La Crosse, Wisc.
Galvin spent her first four years and three seasons at Villanova, where she threw 185-3 and placed 3rd in last year’s Big East Championships at Storrs, Conn.
The other outstanding senior javelin thrower from Gloucester County named Emily – Kingsway graduate Emily Hilt of Rutgers-Camden – placed 17th with a 165-3 on her final attempt after fouling on her first two throws. It was Hilt who edged Galvin to win the NJAC title earlier this month in Mahwah.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 