Wake Forest Athletics
Merckle Places 12th Overall in Javelin at NCAA Championships
6/11/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track and Field
June 11, 2014
By Currie McFayden, Wake Forest Athletic Communications (@WakeTrack)
EUGENE, Ore. - Jessie Merckle's first throw of the night gave the sophomore a 12th-place finish at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships hosted at the University of Oregon's Hayward Field on Wednesday evening.
Merckle's throw of 160-3 (48.84m) put her in the top half of the standings and guaranteed her position as a Second Team All-American. The sophomore is Wake Forest's first women's outdoor track and field All-American since Michelle Sikes in 2007.
The Hickory, Pa., native set both the school record and the ACC Outdoor Championships meet record in April with a throw of 177-0 (53.94m) to earn back-to-back ACC championships in the event. Merckle is one of only three Demon Deacon track athletes, male or female, to win a pair of conference championships in the same event.
Despite an offseason of training to bounce back from injuries, Merckle quickly regained her top form at the Wake Forest Open in March. Her heave of 170-2 (51.88m) marked the first time that she had broken the 170-foot barrier in the event and was her first of three victories this season, with the others coming at the Georgia Tech Invitational and the aforementioned ACC Outdoor Championships.
Merckle ends the season with the third-longest throw in the ACC, just behind Sabine Kopplin and Eva Vivod, both of Virginia Tech. With victories in seven of her 11 collegiate javelin competitions and a healthy offseason ahead, Merckle will seek to become the first track and field athlete in Wake Forest history to win three consecutive ACC championships in the same event in 2015.
Sydney White will wrap up the competition for the Demon Deacons as she competes in the pole vault on Friday evening at 6:15 p.m. ET. White is one of only three ACC representatives in the event and is seeded 21st overall.
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