Murray State University Athletics
Yamamuro Named OVC Outdoor Field Athlete of the Year
5/2/2008 5:00:00 AM | Women's Track and Field
Senior thrower Emi Yamamuro was awarded today as Ohio Valley Conference Female Field Athlete of the Year for the 2008 outdoor season. This announcement comes on the eve of the 2008 OVC Outdoor Championships to be held at Southeast Missouri's Stuber Track Complex in Cape Girardeau, Mo. on Friday and Saturday.
The award wraps up an outstanding 2008 debut season for the Toyama, Japan native Yamamuro, who has established herself as one of the top field athletes in the OVC. Yamamuro was honored by the OVC as OVC Field Athlete of the Week for three consecutive weeks (April 1, April 8, April 15), marking the first time in school history that a MSU track or field athlete had ever been honored by the conference for three weeks in a row.
In the 2008 outdoor season opener at the Bulldog Invitational at Starkville, Miss. on March 29, Yamamuro took first place in the javelin throw, with a toss of 45.71 meters (150-00), automatically qualifying her for the NCAA regionals. Yamamuro's toss was also a school record, besting the 141-4 throw by Kylee Lyon in 1999.
The next week, at the SEMOtion Invitational in Cape Girardeau, Mo., Yamamuro broke her own school record again and broke the OVC all-time record in the javelin toss, winning the event by launching another NCAA regional-qualifying throw of 158'-11” feet (48.44 meters). This throw stood as the best javelin throw ever recorded in the OVC, clearing the record by over a full foot.
At the Ole Miss Invitational on April 12, Yamamuro turned in another outstanding performance in javelin with a third NCAA regional qualifying throw of 151' 2” (46.07 meters). Yamamuro not only won the event, but also set the Ole Miss track record of 45.41 meters set by Hana Prudilova of
Performing against some of the nation's top teams and other world class competitors at the LSU Alumni Gold Meet the next weekend, Yamamuro took fifth place in the javelin competition, throwing yet another regional qualifying distance of 143'1” (43.62 meters).
Yamamuro and the Racers will be looking to build off a historical 2008 season in which they have shattered 11 school records and two OVC records at the Outdoor Championships. Be sure to check GoRacers.com for updates after each day of the two-day event. Competitions begin today at 1 p.m. and will resume on Saturday at 11 a.m.
