AUSTIN, Texas – Braden Presser of the men’s track and field team placed sixth in the javelin with a top throw of 76.00m (249′ 4″) at the NCAA Outdoor Championships on Wednesday in Austin, Texas. His best throw broke his own school record that he set at the East Preliminaries on May 24 (75.95m / 249′ 2″).
By placing in the top eight, Presser earned First Team All-America honors.
“Braden (Presser) is a hard worker and is very bright. He understands this event and is able to make adjustments when things aren’t working well. He fouled on his first throw which isn’t how you want to start, but had a great response with his second throw,” said Associate Head Coach Chris Campbell. “From there we continued to try and make adjustments to get him more comfortable with the runway and eventually got his throw of 76.00 meters which was such an awesome thing to see. To compete on the biggest stage in our sport and break a school record is a huge accomplishment. It’s a great ending to the season for him and the entire program.
“Getting beat in the conference championship was definitely a big motivator for him. He was disappointed about his performance and felt he let the team down a bit. He has responded over the last few weeks and has shown everybody he can be successful at the national level and is a championship-caliber athlete.”
Presser committed a foul on his first attempt, but responded with a throw of 75.48m (247′ 8″) to put him in the top 10. He then recorded distances of 73.02m (239′ 7″) and 71.24m (233′ 9″) on his third and fourth efforts. The Liberty, Mo., native broke the program record on his fifth throw with his best mark of 76.00m (249′ 4″). He posted a distance of 67.53m (221′ 6″) on his final attempt.
Presser posted four top-10 marks in Navy history this season. He now owns seven of the 10 best throws in program history, which includes four of the top five.
“It was an awesome feeling to come out and set another personal record. Last year I didn’t have the finish I wanted and it was really disappointing. It drove me to get back to this stage and perform better,” said Presser. “Javelin is a unique event. Just doing something a tad different can affect your throw by a few meters. I had a good start to the year, but then I hit a wall. I was only getting low 70-meter throws for a stretch and it was frustrating. I had a great few weeks of practice before today and it all connected at the right time. I felt I did well today and I’m proud of myself.
“Something coach (Chris) Campbell always says is compete. Even though I fouled on my first attempt it still went far, so I knew if I kept my confidence and competed I would get some good throws today. I’m really proud to represent the Naval Academy by doing well at this meet. I’m excited to get back to this stage again next year and hopefully bring a lot of my teammates with me.”