NCAA Preview: Men's/Women's Shot Put

Mar 11, 2015 by Lincoln Shryack

Ryan Crouser, Texas

The big Longhorn owns the NCAA shot put. Texas junior Ryan Crouser has won the last two NCAA outdoor shot titles, and this weekend he’ll try and add his second straight indoor title to make it four in a row. Crouser hasn’t thrown as far as his did in 2014 yet, but he still leads the NCAA comfortably at 21.14m, the only man to go beyond 21 meters. Crouser appears to be peaking at the right time, as his performance at the Big 12 Championships was more than a half foot improvement on his previous best in 2015. If the champ duplicates his conference mark in Fayetteville, the NCAA trophy is as good as his.

Tori Bliss, LSU

Tori Bliss made a huge leap in the shot during the 2014 outdoor season. The then junior had only tossed further than 17 meters once in her career when she incredibly chucked a 17.30m throw at the LSU Invite that seemed to finally put her Tiger career in motion. Bliss qualified for her first NCAA meet that same season, and proved that she was the real deal by finishing second in Eugene. Fast forward to the 2015 indoor season, and Bliss is ruling the shot. The only woman to exceed 18 meters, Bliss has more than a foot on the next best performer in 2015 with her 18.31m from SECs. The senior is ready to bring a title back with her to Baton Rouge.

Stipe Zunic, Florida

Big team points for the Gators are on the shoulders of Croatian shot putter Stipe Zunic. The senior has the NCAA #2 throw of 20.61m, and a runner-up showing in Fayetteville would be a tremendous help for Florida’s title hopes in the face of Oregon’s mighty distance squad. Zunic can only focus on himself, of course, and he will look to keep his momentum rolling after a successful trip to Euro Indoors this past weekend that saw him improve his PB to 20.67m. In a world minus Ryan Crouser, that throw would be good enough to win NCAAs, but that’s not the case, so Zunic appears to be headed for second-fiddle.

Raven Saunders, Southern Illinois

Before even arriving on campus, Raven Saunders won a World Juniors silver medal this past July, becoming just the second American female in the last decade to earn hardware in the WJ shot. Now that the future of USA throwing has finally arrived in the NCAA, she’s already making quite the name for herself as just an 18-year-old freshman. Saunders heaved a PB of 17.99m in mid-February, good for NCAA #2 in 2015 and the sixth best throw by a junior all-time. The frosh will rule the NCAA shot in the near future, but for now second looks like the logical finish behind Bliss.

Darrell Hill, Penn State

Darrell Hill first cracked the 20m barrier this past spring at the Big Ten Championships, completely obliterating his old PB by more than three feet with his 20.57m heave in Lafayette, Indiana. That throw was the NCAA’s second-best toss all season, but unfortunately Hill faltered significantly in Eugene, finishing a disappointing 15th. The senior is back, however, and his huge 20.51m throw (#3 2015) back in January puts him right in the thick of things heading into his first NCAA indoor. Experience matters, so even though he enters at #3, Hill is our dark horse because this is his first rodeo.

Kearsten Peoples, Missouri

With defending champ Christina Hillman and runner-up Valentina Muzaric both missing from this year’s competition, Mizzou’s Kearsten Peoples comes in as the highest returner after her third place showing in 2014. Peoples is the favorite to win the weight throw, so she will have to fight off fatigue from that event if she plans on contending in the shot again in 2015. The Tiger senior has only thrown 17.03m this season, but that may only be because she’s turned her focus more towards the weight. Peoples owns a 17.81m indoor PB, proving that she is capable of cracking the top three on the right day.