Jillian Camarena-Williams defeats longtime friend and rival Michelle Carter in Women’s Shot Put–But it’s not over yet! by Roy Stevenson, note by Larry Eder

Roy Stevenson wrote this piece on the women’ shot put. Jillian Camerena Williams won the shot put with her third round throw. The is taking a strong team to London…..

Jill Camarena-Williams, 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials, Shot Put
Photo by PhotoRun.net

By Roy Stevenson

EUGENE, Oregon
June 30, 2012

Camarena-William’s 19.16m (62-10.50) winning put beat close rival Michelle Carter by almost 2 feet (60-11.25) in yesterday’s women’s shot event, but it was never over until that last shot had been thrown. In previous competitions, Carter has come from behind on the last throw to beat Camarena-Williams. This makes Camarena-William’s third U.S. outdoor title.

It was a good, honest shot competition, although none of Carter’s throws reached Camarena-William’s second longest throw of 18.99m. Still, Camarena-Williams was languishing in fourth place until she popped her winning shot in the third round.

Tia Brooks, 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials, Shot Put, Photo by PhotoRun.net

Third place went to Oklahoma Collegian and NCAA winner, Tia Brooks, with a best throw of 60-02.00, which gave her the lead in the early rounds, and was an A qualifier. She’ll fill the third spot on the London Olympic team.

Camarena-Williams and Carter share the top 27 throws for Americans last year, evidence of their total domination of the event. Camarena-William’s best put is 20.18m (66-2.5), which ranks her second on the U.S. All-time list behind Ramona Pagel’s 20.18 (66-2.5) throw in 1988. Michelle Carter’s best put is 19.86m (62-9.25), and she won the last Olympic trials from Camarena-Williams.

Michelle Carter, 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials, Shot Put, Photo by PhotoRun.net

With Camarena-William’s bronze at last year’s world champs, 7th place world ranking two years ago, and Carter’s sixth in the 2009 World Championships in Berlin–plus a 15th in the 2008 Olympic Games, these two good friends are still poised for greater improvements and should push each other to greater distances, not to mention what competing in Olympic games can do to raise the competitive bar.