Moon Township, Pa. – Fifth-year
Yessie Valencia concluded a banner outdoor season Saturday at the NCAA East Preliminaries in Bloomington, Ind., at the Robert C. Haugh Track & Field Complex on the campus of Indiana University. Valencia competed in the discus, finishing 36th.
Valencia notched a distance of 47.22 meters (154'11") on her first attempt of the event, which stood as her best mark of the competition. On her second throw, Valencia finished with a heave of 40.60 meters (133'2") and on the third and final attempt she posted a mark of 43.52 meters (155'0").
The performance for Valencia caps an outstanding final outdoor campaign for the Phoenix, Ariz., native. Crowned the 2022 Horizon League Outdoor Track & Field individual champion in the discus, she recorded a distance of 50.73 meters (166'5") to not only establish a personal best but also set a new #HLTF Outdoor Championships standard in the event.
During the 2022 outdoor season, Valencia claimed seven individual championships in the discus. She owns the Gesling Stadium record in the event at Carnegie Mellon University after opening the season with the crown in the discus and also won individual titles at the Mountaineer Classic (4/2), the George Mason Invitational (4/9), the CMU Last Chance Meet (4/15), the Benson/Hodge Memorial Invitational (4/23) at the P3R Track & Field Complex at the RMU Island Sports Center and the Marty Goldberg Invitational (5/12).
Valencia was the third student-athlete for the Colonials to compete at the NCAA East Prelims in the discus, joining Nicole Downing (2004) and Rachel Boody (2017). Valencia also became the eighth different RMU student-athlete to compete in the throws at the competition.
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