Millville’s Leah Howard, a sophomore at Texas Tech, threw a season-best and near-PR 163-10 in the javelin late Saturday night at the Texas A&M 44 Farms Invitational in College Station.
Her mark is No. 17 among U.S. women this year, according to the World Athletics database.
Her throw is 4th-best in the Big 12 Conference this year and just six inches off her PR of 164-4 set at last year’s Big 12 meet in Waco.
Howard is bidding to beome the first-ever 170-foot thrower from South Jersey. Kelly Yanucil from Bordentown and Mount St. Mary’s is the alumni record holder with a 169-9 at the 2017 Penn Relays.
On Saturday, Howard threw 155-10 on her 3rd and final throw of the trials and secured the 9th and final spot in the finals by about 2 ½ feet.
She hit her 163-10 on her first throw of the finals before finishing with two fouls.
Interesting that the final results convert 49.93 to 163-9, but TFRRS – the Track and Field Race Reporting System, which is the official database for NCAA qualifying – converts her mark to 163-10.
A 49.93 converts to 163.81234, which equals 163-9.74808, which should be 163-9, since there are no inches in javelin, hammer or discus marks and you always round down to determine an official mark. But the throw shows up officially as 163-10, so we’ll go with that for now.
Howard was the 2023 Meet of Champions winner at 159-4, the No. 2 mark in MoC history. She’s No. 2 in state history with her 163-1 at the 2023 Woodbury Relays. a
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 