Two former high school hammer throw stars stole the show at the US Junior Championships in Bloomington, Indiana. The meet not only acted as the national championship for athletes born in 1993 or later, but also served as a qualfiying meet for the World Junior Championships. The top two athletes in each event earned a spot for the meet that will take place early next month.

US junior record holder Shelby Ashs was the high school national champion and record setter last year while prepping in Georgia. This year she put off college to focus on training towards the Olympic trials, and it paid off on Saturday. She led the entire competition and launched a new national junior record of 68.12 meters in the fourth round. That mark is just under this year's leading world junior mark of 68.44 meters thrown by Alexandra Tavernier of France. Second place went to Deanna Price, who ranked 3rd among high school throwers last season. Now she has moved from Missouri to Southern Illinois University where she placed 10th at the NCAA Championships last week. Her best throw of 61.82m was just under the personal best she set last month. Both Ashe and Price threw over the old meet record and will travel to Barcelona for the World Junior Championships.

High school junior and national leader Rudy Winkler of Averill Park, NY captured the men's junior title. All three of his legal throws were better than runner-up Matthias Tayala. Winkler was expected to win and had already broken 72 meters with the international junior 6-kilogram implement this year. Tayala is a new thrower on the scene, having just started the event last Fall as a freshman at Kent State University. But the former Ohio state shot put and discus champion threw a personal best to improve from fourth place to second place on his final attempt and also qualifying for the World Junior team. Collegiate throwers Benjamin Glauser (Harvard) and Bradley Sauer (Southern Illinois) were very close behind him in third and fouth place.

June 15-17, 2012
Robert C. Haugh Track and Field Complex
Bloomington, IN

Men Hammer Throw
================================================================
 Best 8 advance to final, ties will be broken
   World Jr.: W 82.97m  2009        Javier Cienfuegos, ESP
American Jr.: A 80.79m  2010        Conor McCullough
USA Jr. Meet: M 78.28m  2010        Conor McCullough
    WJC Qual: & 66.20m
    Name                    Year Team                    Finals
================================================================
Finals
  1 Winkler, Rudy                Unattached              70.75m&
      FOUL  69.79m  70.75m  FOUL  FOUL  69.75m
  2 Tayala, Matthias             Unattached              68.04m&
      FOUL  64.55m  FOUL  65.44m  65.67m  68.04m
  3 Glauser, Benjamin            Harvard University      67.75m&
      67.75m  67.27m  62.01m  61.69m  65.66m  64.51m
  4 Sauer, Bradley               Southern Ill            67.27m&
      63.77m  65.41m  FOUL  64.99m  FOUL  67.27m
  5 Enekwechi, Chukwuebuke       Unattached              63.87m
      63.54m  63.31m  FOUL  63.87m  62.77m  FOUL
  6 Servino, Thomas              Dartmouth College       63.38m
      58.08m  60.71m  62.40m  61.97m  63.38m  63.05m
  7 Strawn, Kyle                 Unattached              61.63m
      FOUL  60.86m  61.63m  60.25m  FOUL  60.46m
  8 Gaitan, Enrique              Unattached              61.50m
      61.05m  58.15m  61.22m  59.95m  60.88m  61.50m
  9 Brentnall Jr, Edward         Manhattan College       60.30m
 10 Foley, Michael               Unattached              60.23m
 11 Loe, Nathanael               Illinois                60.19m
 12 Ackell, Christopher          Unattached              58.86m
 13 Thornton, Darien             Unattached              58.02m
 14 Donnelly, Sean               Unattached              57.81m
 15 Minor, Ryan                  Coast. Carolina         57.53m
 16 Wideman Jr, Curtis           Southern Ill            56.84m
 17 Farley, Kevin                Southeast Mi            55.94m
 18 Minor, Colin                 Unattached              55.07m
 19 Dan, Isaac                   California              53.95m
 20 Miller, Andrew               Unattached              53.35m
 21 Brown, Cameron               Ravenwood High          52.88m
 22 Schneeberger, Jake           Colorado State          51.55m
 -- Tuttle, Jeremy               Lsu                       FOUL
 
 Women Hammer Throw
==========================================================================
 Best 8 advance to final, ties will be broken
   World Jr.: W 73.24m  2005        Zhang Wenxiu, CHN
American Jr.: A 65.32m  2010        Shelby Ashe
USA Jr. Meet: M 60.76m  2010        Shelby Ashe
    WJC Qual: & 56.00m
    Name                    Year Team                    Finals
==========================================================================
  1 Ashe, Shelby                 Throw1deep Club         68.12mA    223-06
      FOUL  63.98m  65.93m  68.12m  FOUL  61.82m
  2 Price, Deanna                Southern Ill            61.82mM    202-10
      60.16m  61.62m  61.82m  55.19m  60.67m  57.22m
  3 Hicks, Kiah                  Colorado State          57.78m&    189-07
      52.34m  56.85m  57.78m  FOUL  FOUL  FOUL
  4 Williams, Jianna             Unattached              54.15m     177-08
      54.15m  52.94m  FOUL  FOUL  FOUL  53.25m
  5 McFetters, Robyn             University of Maine     53.64m     176-00
      53.09m  FOUL  49.48m  53.64m  FOUL  FOUL
  6 Foster, Katherine            Unattached              53.42m     175-03
      52.96m  53.42m  FOUL  FOUL  FOUL  FOUL
  7 Lozano, Sophia               Southern Ill            52.56m     172-05
      52.30m  52.56m  52.36m  FOUL  52.47m  FOUL
  8 Imani, Jessica               Cal Irvine              50.89m     166-11
      46.85m  50.69m  50.89m  50.26m  49.65m  47.61m
  9 Weber, Ashley                Unattached              49.89m     163-08
 10 Pratt, Tonia                 Murray State            49.53m     162-06
 11 Wilder, Sidnie               Unattached              49.39m     162-00
 12 King, Erica                  Unattached              49.24m     161-06
 13 Hussey, Sarah                Cal Davis               48.56m     159-04
 14 Vermillion, Heather          Unattached              48.24m     158-03
 15 Watt, Cynthia                Unattached              48.00m     157-06
 16 Cooks, Alexis                Unattached              40.89m     134-02
 -- Ishmar, Raqurra              Unattached                FOUL