Cherokee’s Jessica Woodard easily advanced to the shot put finals Friday night at the U.S. Olympic Trials at Hayward Field in Eugene.
This is the 6th time and 5th in a row Woodard has reached the finals at U.S. Outdoor Nationals and her 2nd straight Trials final. She’s never not reached a final in 12 indoor or outdoor national meets.
Woodard was one of 24 competitors in the qualifying round Friday, with the top 12 earning a trip to the finals. She threw 59-11 ¾ on her 2nd throw, placing her 6th overall and comfortably within the top 12.
The cutoff to advance to the final was 58-1. Throws from Friday don’t carry over to the final.
Woodard opened with a 58-2 and followed that with the 59-11 ¾ and a 59-2 ¼. The 59-11 ¾ missed being her 43rd lifetime 60-foot throw.
Woodard is No. 16 in U.S. history with her 63-7 ¾ in Eugene in June of 2022. She’s 24th in the world this year with a 60-11 ¼ at indoor Nationals in Albuqurque in February..
Including both outdoor and indoor meets, Woodard has competed at the U.S. Championships 11 times previously and never finished worse than 9th. She’s been 3rd three times, 4th once, 5th once, 6th twice, 7th twice, 8th once and 9th once.
The final is scheduled for 8:50 p.m. Saturday.
Jessica Woodard U.S. Championships History
2024 Outdoors [Eugene]: ???
2024 Indoors [Albuquerque]: 4th, 60-11 ¼
2023 Outdoors [Eugene]: 5th 60-3 ¼
2023 Indoors [Albuquerque]: 3rd, 57-11 ½
2022 Outdoors [Eugene]: 3rd, 63-7 ¾
2022 Indoors [Spokane], 3rd, 61-4 ¼
2021 Outdoors [Eugene], 7th, 57-11 ¾
2021 Indoors [cancelled]
2020 Outdoors [cancelled]
2020 Indoors [Albuquerque]: 6th, 57-10 ¾
2019 Outdoors [Des Moines]: 6th, 57-10 ¾
2019 Indoors [New York]: 7th, 57-11 ½
2018 Outdoors [Des Moines]: 9th, 58-0 ¾
2018 Indoors: DNC
2017 Outdoors [Sacramento]: 8th, 57-5 ½
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 