There was a time when the hammer throw didn’t come this
easily for UCLA’s Jessica Cosby. For most of her collegiate
career, Cosby never looked comfortable in the hammer, launching the
majority of her throws into the netting and failing to make any
sort of impact in the event on a national level. Then came the
breakthrough ““ a sterling second half of the outdoor campaign
last year that culminated in a second place finish in the hammer
throw at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Thursday afternoon, in
front of a vocal group of teammates and coaches at UCLA’s
Drake Stadium, Cosby continued to build on last season, surpassing
the 200-foot mark four times to post a convincing victory in the
invitational portion of the hammer competition at the Rafer
Johnson/Jackie Joyner-Kersee Invitational. “A year ago, and
even two years ago, I struggled so much with this event,”
Cosby said. “Now, the fact that we didn’t quit on it
and kept working even when the meets didn’t go as we planned
is starting to pay off.” The NCAA champion in the shot put as
a freshman, Cosby, now a fifth-year senior, always assumed her
Bruin legacy would be in that event. So when she struggled to find
any sort of rhythm in the hammer throw as a sophomore and junior,
Cosby considered telling UCLA throws coach Art Venegas that she was
ready to quit. “I never voiced it to him, but I’m
pretty sure he could read through my body language,” Cosby
said. “I wasn’t always having fun with this event, but
now I’m glad I stuck with it.” The result of that
decision was on display Thursday afternoon against a field that
included top throwers from Stanford, Arizona and BYU. Cosby, who
was still recovering from a week of heavy weightlifting, took first
place by more than 20 feet with a mark of 208 feet 5 inches. That
was well short of her personal best of 219-5 and her season best of
217-5, but was more than enough to satisfy Venegas. “If she
finished one of her throws off, she could have gone 215 or
220,” he said. “That’s pretty scary.”
Cosby, the national leader in the hammer, expects to contend for a
national title in the event this June as well as in the shot put.
While she hasn’t matched the success she achieved early in
her career in the shot put recently, Cosby is confident she has a
few more big throws in her. And in the meantime, she’ll
continue to focus on the hammer, where she suddenly is now a force.
“I’m really grateful to Art for sticking with the
hammer with me, and telling me I have to do this,” Cosby
said. “Just the fact that he was able to see something that I
didn’t see is great.”
ODDS AND ENDS: UCLA’s Andrew Ninow won the men’s
hammer throw competition Thursday, bettering his lifetime best by
10 inches with a mark of 188-10 … Lara Saye did not participate
in the hammer Thursday due to the lingering effects of a sprained
neck, but will throw the discus and the shot put Saturday.