Harvard University junior Shannon Watt of Jackson threw a personal best 47-3 ¾ feet (14.42 meters) on her final attempt in the shot put competition and set a meet record as the Crimson won the fifth annual Battle of Beantown on Feb. 3 in Cambridge, Mass.
“It was a huge throw,” said Watt.
Watt, a graduate of Jackson Memorial High School, saw it coming.
“I haven’t been doing anything different, just a bunch of fine-tuning,” said Watt. “I’ve been focusing more on the back part of the circle [for her throw]. I knew it was coming. I was throwing 14s [meters] in practice. It was a matter of when.”
Watt sensed that she had unleashed a special throw right from the point of release.
“I definitely knew it was over 14 meters,” she said of the winning throw. “The closest I had to that one on my other [five] throws was 13.94 [meters; 45-7 feet], but that felt absolutely horrible. I did not think that one went that far, so I knew if I got my form down, it would go well.”
Watt’s prior best throw was 13.95 meters (45-8) and she said she is within reach of the third and second best throws ever at Harvard (14.80 meters, or 48-6 feet; and 14.85 meters, or 48-7 feet). Catherine Griffin holds the record of 15.03 meters (49-3) set in 1992.
“This season has been great,” Watt said. “I have only been tweaking a little here and there, and I have been building on every week. I have to keep on building.”
Watt, who is an engineering major, threw a winning 13.74 meters (45-0 feet) at the Harvard Challenge on Jan. 21. She is now gearing up for the annual Harvard- Yale-Princeton meet that will be hosted by Harvard on Feb. 11.
“Being familiar with the circle really helps. That meet is big,” Watt said.
The Ivy League Championships will follow in the upcoming weeks.
Watt said her throws do not qualify her for the NCAA Regionals this season, “but I’m looking to get there next year.”
She believes that when she gets to the outdoor season, she will have a chance to qualify for the NCAA competition in the discus.
“I’m really excited for the discus and I want to make the NCAAs,” Watt said of her favorite event. “I’ve been throwing a little outdoors, with the weather being so good this winter, and a little inside. I just missed the regionals, and in the Ivy League [championships] I was third last year and really close to the winner.”
Watt’s personal best throw in the discus was 47 meters (approximately 154 feet) in an open meet. She hit 45.31 meters (approximately 147 feet) in the ECAC Championships, where she finished ninth.
And she will continue with the shot put, where she said she hopes for a better spring than a year ago when she was 12th in the ECACs with a 13.56-meter (44-5) throw, and said she did not have a good day at the Penn Relays with a 10th place, 12.91-meter (42-3 ½) measure.
As a freshman, Watt was fourth in the Penn Relays in the shot put with a throw of 13.79 meters (45-2).