Egg Harbor graduate Michaela Pomatto broke the Stockton University discus record Thursday.
Then she broke it again. And then she broke it again.
Pomatto, a Stockton junior, had the series of her life on Day 2 of the All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Championships in Cortland, N.Y., with three throws over 150 feet, including a 154-8 on her 5th attempt.
She solidified her already very good chances to qualify for the NCAA Division 3 Championships by moving up from 15th to 10th on the TFRRS performance list. The top 22 on the list qualify for nationals, scheduled for next Thursday through Saturday atg Doug Shaw Memorial Stadium in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
When the spring season began, Stockton’s record was 147-5 by Clearview graduate Audra Schappell from 2005 in a meet that I’ve never been able to identify.
Pomatto broke that mark with a 149-3 on April 19 at the Paul Donahue Invitational at Widener University in Chester, Pa.
After throwing 139-7 and a near-PR 148-0 on her first two attempts Thursday, Pomatto broke the school record for the first time with a 150-6 on her 3rd throw. She topped it with a 151-9 on her 4th and then broke the record again with a 154-8 on her final attempt. She fouled on her 6th.
Senior Makenna King of St. John Fisher in Pittsford, N.Y., won the event with a 161-7 on her final throw even though Pomatto had three of the four-best throws in the competition.
King jumped from the No. 14 spot on the Track and Field Race Reporting Service list up to No. 4, but Pomatto is in a safe spot with the qualifying window ending at midnight Thursday.
Pomatto is now only five feet off the all-time N JAC record of 159-10 set by Rowan’s Kathy Darling of Milford, Del., in 2001, before she transferred to Johns Hopkins and became an NCAA Division 1 All-America.
Pomatto began her track career at Ursinus, where she set the school record of 130-4 at the 2022 Larry Ellis Invitational in Princeton.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 