From UCO Sports Info.
Mike Kirk, Assistant Athletic Director for Media Relations
EDMOND – Central Oklahoma national champion Mariah Garcia travels to Eugene, Ore. this weekend to compete in the 2016 U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials.
The Mustang sophomore is one of 24 competitors in the discus, with the top three finishers advancing to the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Aug. 5-21.
Preliminary action in the discus starts at 6 p.m. (Oklahoma time) Friday at Hayward Field on the University of Oregon campus, with the finals set for 12:45 p.m. Saturday.
Garcia enjoyed a fantastic spring season for the Bronchos en route to becoming the school’s first-ever outdoor NCAA Division II national champion.
She won the discus crown in five of the six meets she competed in and bettered the Olympic Trials qualifying mark with a meet- and school-record 192’-8” heave at the prestigious John Jacobs Relays in Norman on April 23.
Garcia won the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association title with a meet record 179’-9” effort and claimed the national championship with a 172’-8” throw.’
Garcia is the first-ever UCO woman student-athlete to qualify for the U.S. Olympic Trials.