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| Liz Podomonick in the circle. (Photo by Becky Miller.) |
The Lakeville High School and University of
Minnesota alumnus threw 194-11 in the competition. Two-time Olympic bronze medalist Stephanie
Brown Trafton won the competition with 213-10.
Aretha Thurmond finished second with 204-2 and Suzy Powell-Roos was third
at 197-6.
To make the London Games, Podomonick faced the stern
challenge of needing not only to finish in the top three in the country’s most
competitive meet, but also throw an Olympic A qualifying mark of 203-5, a
personal best.
In the end, her best throw of the Olympic Trials
turned out to be the 196-7 she marked in the rain during the qualifying round
on Friday. Podomonick took the
disappointment in stride, however.
“It is what it is,” she said. “I trained hard, and
I'm okay with it.”
Podomonick opened Sunday’s throwing with a 193-7,
which placed her third after the first round of throws. As she did in qualifying, she fouled her
second throw, again wide of the left sector line.
She marked a 182-6 on her third attempt.
After three rounds, Podomonick was in fourth place – a notch away from
the podium but still in need of a big toss.
The former Golden Gopher basketballer
intentionally fouled her fifth attempt after
it landed short. She marked her top
throw of the day on her fifth attempt, though by the end of the round Podomonick
had dropped to fifth-place. She closed
out her first Olympic Trials with a 188-7.
“I wasn't trying to think about a distance,” Minnesota’s
top high school shot putter of all time said, “just a feeling and the rhythm of
the throw. I knew if I could get it down things can happen. You can't control
how far it goes after it releases your hand. You just hope for the best."
While Podomonick’s 2012 Olympic journey ends at
Hayward Field, she said she plans continue competing beyond this season.
“I feel like I’m just starting to tap into what I
think I can do,” she insisted. “It’s really
only been two years that I’ve been training seriously for the disc. It’s so technical, there’s a lot I have to
learn still.”
Podomonick, who lives in Colorado, is coached
there by Air Force Academy throws coach Scott Irving. She also travels to Portland, Oregon
regularly to work with Mac Wilkins, a Olympic gold and silver medalist.
Listen to our compete conversation with Podomonick
here …
Women's Pole Vault … After waiting two days to open
competition, the women’s pole vault ended quickly for Minnesotans Katelin Rains
and Samantha Sonnenberg. Both vaulters
failed to clear the event’s opening height of 13-11¼.
Rains, a Minnesota State, Mankato alumnus, and
Sonnenberg, a University of Minnesota graduate, expected to compete in pole
vault preliminaries on Friday, but competition was cancelled due to rain.
Instead, competition was held as a 27-vaulter
final on Sunday.
The Minnesotans were two of twelve vaulter
unable to clear the opening height.
Olympic silver medalist Jennifer Suhr won the competition with 15-1. Joining her the Olympic team are Becky
Holliday, who cleared 14-11, and Lacy Janson, who cleared 14-9.
Find complete Day 3 Olympic Trials results HERE.
Monday is a Big Day
Monday will be an important day for Minnesotans at
the Olympic Trials. Three athlete will
compete in finals for London bids.
USA triple jump champion Amanda Smock, a Melrose
native and the top performer in Saturday’s prelims, will attempt to make her
first USA Olympic team. Minnesota State,
Mankato alum Jim Dilling will try to jump onto the men’s high jump squad. The 2007 USA champ was perfect in his prelim completion.
On the track, Team USA Minnesota’s Heather Kampf
will race for the Olympics in the women’s 800-meter. The 2006 NCAA Indoor champion for the
University of Minnesota ran 2:02.59 in Saturday’s semi-finals.
Plus ... prelims will be contested in the men's and women's 3000-meter steeplechase and the men's and women's 5000-meters!
Plus ... prelims will be contested in the men's and women's 3000-meter steeplechase and the men's and women's 5000-meters!
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