Ashton Riner bested the field by more than 44 feet. Photo by Kevin Neri
Ashton Riner of BYU won the women’s javelin throw at the Oregon Twilight Meet Friday night at Hayward Field with a throw of 191 feet, 11 inches — 44 feet ahead of the second-place finisher, Kaylee Wright of Western Oregon.
Riner loved the atmosphere that was present at Hayward Field Friday night. She was the only BYU representative in the women’s javelin in a field with athletes from Division III schools George Fox and Pacific Lutheran and host Oregon, which was resting many of its athletes because of next week’s Pac-12 championships.
“I love these types of meets,” said Riner. “It’s a relaxed feeling. I was just talking with the other girls. It was fun.”
Riner, the collegiate leader in the women’s javelin, came into Friday’s meet 10 feet ahead of any other collegiate female javelin thrower. She asserted herself on the first throw of the night, which proved enough to earn her first place.
While in recent memory BYU has been spectacular in women’s long distance running, Reiner hopes to shed a light on the team’s talented throwers.
“Our throwing team right now is insane — we have the best javelin team in the nation,” said Riner. “Our throwing team really has that brother-sister bond that is great to have.”
Even with a convincing victory, Riner still has adjustments she wants to make in hopes to reach the collegiate women’s javelin record of 204 feet set by Maggie Malone in 2016.
“I want that NCAA record so bad,” Riner said. ”My penultimate step needs the most work to get there.”
Anything less than first place is not acceptable for Riner at this point. She intentionally scratched her second throw out of pure frustration.
“I knew that it’d be around 160 so I scratched it,” Riner said. ”I’m definitely hard on myself, but I think that it’s a part of what makes me a good thrower.”
Riner will return to Hayward Field in June for the NCAA Championships, where she hopes to take home the title.
