Jaida Ross broke the school record in the shot put on her first throw. Photo by Kevin Neri
On Saturday, at the end of the first round of throws for the Pac-12 Championships, Jaida Ross turned away from the shot put area and ran across the track to her coach, Eric Whitsitt, where he stood behind the gate. They talked for a moment. Then Whitsitt enveloped her in a tight hug.
The hug, in some ways, was Ross’ prize for her accomplishment: a school record in the women’s shot put. On her first attempt, she had thrown the shot 57 feet, 7 inches, passing the previous record by 6 inches.
“He’s not a hugger, but he knows I’m a hugger,” Ross said. She smiled as she described the moment. “So only when I do well, does he hug me.”
After the hug, Whitsitt demonstrated different leg movements, coaching Ross through her next throws in the final round. But when Ross returned to the field, she didn’t end up throwing any farther — Jorinde van Klinken of Arizona State University beat her by three feet with a 60-1 mark on the fourth throw.
Van Klinken, who competed in the 2019 world championships and represented the Netherlands at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in discus, is now the indoor and outdoor Pac-12 champion in shot put. She came 5 ½ inches short of passing her season best, 60-6 ½, which is the farthest throw in the Pac-12 this season.
Ross’ second-place finish was unexpected because before Saturday, Ross’ previous season best placed her fourth in the Pac-12. But she said the school record is what gave her the most pride.
“Even when I was getting recruited, I was like, I want to go to Oregon and I want to be one of the best that’s walked on here,” she said.
Ross said her performance is a good sign because it prepares her for regionals, where she has to be consistent and have a “big throw” within the first three throws.
She competed alongside teammate Miné de Klerk, who is the 2021 world shot put champion in the under-20 category. De Klerk threw the shot 55-8 ½ and got fourth place in her first collegiate Pac-12 Championship. Ross expects that de Klerk will unseat her claim on the school record before long.
“I have an amazing teammate right behind me,” Ross said. “She’s going to push me and she’s going to beat me one day.”
But today, even though Whitsitt gave Ross advice to help her maintain the record, Ross got to celebrate her personal best.
“I was really happy. I knew what he was going to say,” she said. “But I wanted to hug first.”
