Athlete gets NCAA win in javelin

Senior Irina Kharun lived up to her top-seed billing Friday at the NCAA Championships in Sacramento, Calif., by dominating the javelin event and setting an American collegiate record. Kharun said she remembered her father's advice and dedicated her final throw to Coach Randy Heisler.\n"My dad has always told me that the last throw of a competition is for the coach," Kharun said in a press release. "You should give it your best on your last throw to show your coach how much you respect them." \nApparently Kharun met her goal of showing respect, as her coach said he was very impressed with her throws. Kharun's first throw came in at 197-feet-6-inches, her second throw weighed in at 179-feet-2-inches, her third throw came in at 193-feet-9-inches, and her record-breaking final throw reached 202-feet-10-inches.\n"I was really relaxed after her first throw. She was just so focused," Heisler said. "The 202 feet? That's ridiculous. I mean, she is throwing 60 feet farther than when she came here as a freshman. And she was pretty good then." \nHer record-breaking throw also moved her into No. 5 in the world this year, not to mention No. 1 in the U.S. This will bode well for her come next weekend, where she will compete at the USA Track and Field Championships. If she finishes in the top three, she will earn a place at the IAAF World Championships in Paris. She also became only the second women's track and field athlete to win a national title. Current IU strength and conditioning coach Katrin Koch won the shot put in 1992. \nKharun carried a sizable lead throughout Friday's competition. Any of her four legal throws would have won the event handily; her top mark of 202-10 broke the American collegiate record and solidified her dominance. The throw landed more than 30 feet farther than the runner-up's best effort. \nKharun was not the only Hoosier thrower to earn All-America status. IU hammer thrower Adam Judge also earned the honor by finishing 11th with a toss of 205-feet-8 1/2-inches. To be an All-American, an athlete must finish among the top eight Americans in his or her event. With several foreigners ahead of him, Judge easily earned that distinction. \nThe IU women's sprinting corps also produced excellent results. Against a headwind, senior All-American Rachelle Boone grabbed fourth in the 100 meters in a time of 11.36 seconds. Later in the meet, she posted a fourth-place finish in the 200. She joined with sophomore Ara Towns, junior Rose Richmond and fellow senior Danielle Carruthers to take fifth in the 4x100-meter relay in a time of 43.53, good for a new IU record. Their performance marked only the second time in history that IU has won All-America honors in the same event for four straight years. \nCarruthers had some individual honors of her own, earning her ninth All-America award with her second-place finish in the 100-meter hurdles in 12.89. Her place equaled her highest finish at an outdoor NCAA Championships; she also finished second as a junior in 2001. Her efforts, combined with those of Boone, Towns, Richmond and Kharun placed IU sixth in the meet, quite a feat considering IU brought only seven athletes to the event and scored only five. \nUnfortunately, the women's strong performance did not rub off on the men. Other than Judge in the hammer throw, no IU athletes reached their event finals. A painful stress fracture in his foot prevented sophomore Aarik Wilson from achieving a second-straight All-America finish in the triple jump. \nThe men did, however, have a bit of silver lining inside the gloom. Junior steeplechaser Tom Burns learned that he had earned a spot in the USA Track and Field Championships next weekend at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif. \nBurns will join Carruthers, Boone, Richmond, Kharun, junior Audrey Geisler, Wilson, Judge, sophomore John Jefferson and two triple jumpers, senior Hasaan Reddick and junior Lauren Chestnut next weekend. If any of them finish in the top three in their event, they will earn a trip to the IAAF World Championships in Paris.