It takes a mammoth performance to win a national award in track & field, and that’s just what Ole Miss sophomore Raven Saunders provided last weekend in Nashville.
Saunders broke several of her own records with a world-leading shot put at the Vanderbilt Invitational en route to USTFCCCA Women’s National Athlete of the Week and Southeastern Conference Women’s Field Athlete of the Week.
The Charleston, South Carolina, native is the first athlete in program history to earn a national weekly award. She’s also the first to garner three straight SEC Athlete of the Week honors.
With a personal-best shot put of 18.98m/62-3.25, she regained the world lead and moved to No. 3 on the all-time collegiate performers list with the fifth-farthest throw ever by a collegian. She broke her own Ole Miss and SEC records, while also establishing new meet and facility records.
She topped 18 meters three times this weekend, bringing her season-long 18-meter+ total to eight. No one else in the NCAA has broken that barrier so far in 2016. To boot, she also threw a career-best 20.22m/66-4.25 in the weight throw to move to No. 16 in the country and No. 2 in school history in that event.
Saunders now has three of the four best shot puts in the world this season. In four meets as a Rebel, she has set the school’s shot put record three times and broken a facility record at all three meet locations.
