EUGENE, Ore. – Redshirt senior thrower Logan Calvin will become the first Redbird since 2015 to compete in the shot put at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships on Wednesday, June 8 at 8:40 p.m. CT (6:40 p.m. PT) at historic Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.
The shot put competition can be streamed live on ESPN3. Fans without access to ESPN3 can follow live results here.
Calvin becomes just the fourth student-athlete in Illinois State track & field history to qualify for an NCAA Championship meet in the shot put. He is the first to qualify since Jianna Williams competed at the 2015 NCAA Outdoor Championships. Williams earned second-team All-America honors with a 15th-place finish.
Curt Jensen was the last Redbird to compete in the men's shot put, as he qualified for both the 2014 NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships. Jensen earned first-team All-America honors at both meets with a pair of eighth-place finishes. He also holds the school record in both the indoor and outdoor event.
The only other Redbird student-athlete to earn first-team All-America honors in the shot put was Brittany Smith, who was a six-time NCAA qualifier. Smith finished as the runner-up at the outdoor national meet two years in a row (2012 & 2013). Latisha Johnson was the first Illinois State athlete to qualify in the shot put, as she competed at the 2004 NCAA Outdoor Championships, where she finished 21st.
In his final season in a Redbird uniform, Calvin has risen to new heights. The Bloomington, Indiana native finished eighth at the NCAA West Preliminary Round with a throw of 19.63m (64-5) to punch his ticket to Eugene and make his first appearance at an NCAA Championship meet. Calvin enters the meet with the seventh-best mark in the field and is seeded 14th overall.
Competing at his final MVC Outdoor Championships, Calvin earned All-Valley honors in the shot put, where he set a personal best of 20.24m (66-5) in the shot put. Calvin and UNI's Darius King each threw the same mark at the meet; however, the winner was determined by the thrower with the second-best mark, and Calvin finished second.
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