EUGENE, Ore. — Vanderbilt graduate student Veronica Fraley, who began the month by winning the discus at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, ended June by qualifying for the 2024 Olympics in the event with her performance Thursday at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials at Hayward Field.
The Raleigh, North Carolina, native moved into second place in the finals in the third round when she recorded her best mark of the night with a 62.54 meter throw, as she would go on the finish third among the 12 competitors who advanced out of the first round Monday. Four of her six throws in the finals surpassed the 60-meter mark.
Currently ranked 22nd in the world in the discus, Fraley will add to her international résumé having already represented the United States at the World Championships on two occasions as well as at the 2023 Pan American Games.
Teammate Allyria McBride also competed at the trials on Thursday, advancing out of the first round of the 400-meter hurdles after finishing with a time of 56.96 seconds. The rising junior from Marietta, Georgia, placed fourth in her heat and was 18th overall in a field of 34 individuals.
Fraley will continue competing at the U.S. Trials on Friday when the first round of the shot put gets underway, while former Commodore Brooke Overholt will also begin her attempt to make the Canadian Olympic Team with the first round of the 400-meter hurdles in Montreal.
