Columbia News

Valentina Barrios of the University of Missouri won the women's javelin national championship at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon. Barrios achieved a personal-best throw of 62.00 meters (203-5) during her final attempt at Hayward Field, moving from fifth place to first with what is now the fifth-best throw in women's collegiate history.

Barrios, who is from Barranquilla, Colombia, became the fourth woman in Missouri history to win an outdoor national title. She joins Sabrina Dornhoefer (1985) and Karissa Schweizer (2017, 2018), both previous champions in the 5,000-meter event.

"It takes a team effort around the program to allow any of our athletes the opportunity to achieve at the highest level, and Valentina is a product of that," head coach Brett Halter said. "She deserves all the credit in the world. She believed in the plan, stuck to it, and trusted the work she had put into her craft over the last couple of years. I'm incredibly proud of her."

Barrios surpassed her own school record of 58.20 meters (190-11), which she set earlier at the Southeastern Conference Championships where she also won gold. This marks Missouri's eighth outdoor national championship in a field event across both men's and women's teams and is their first since Nat Page won the high jump in 1979. It is also notable as this year saw both a Mizzou man and woman claim national titles; Jonathan Seremes won the indoor triple jump crown earlier this year.

With this performance, Barrios earned first-team All-American honors in her debut appearance at NCAA Championship Finals. Alicia Burnett also finished her season as an All-American after placing 11th in the women’s 100-meter semifinals with a time of 11.11 seconds, earning second-team recognition.

After these results, Missouri's women's team stands tied for fifth place with ten points going into day three of competition.

The championships continue Friday with Skylar Coffey representing Missouri in men's discus beginning at 4:15 p.m. CT.