Jun. 29—The news out of Western Kentucky University late last week was impressive, if not unprecedented, when it was announced that former Lady Topper track and field standout shot putter Jessica Ramsey had qualified to compete for the United States in the Tokyo Olympic Games.
And Ramsey, 30, currently a volunteer coach for track and field program at Ole Miss, did it in the most extraordinary way imaginable — setting a U.S. Olympic Trials record on Thursday night in Eugene, Oregon, in the women’s shot put with a throw of 66 feet, 1/4 inch.
Earlier in the evening, Raven “The Hulk” Saunders had broken the meet record (65-6) and pulled ahead of Ramsey, but the former Western star came through with her prodigious throw in the fourth round to win the competition. The throw was not only a personal best for Ramsey, but it also made her the fourth-best American performer of all time.
“My goal in Tokyo is to do the same thing,’ Ramsey said afterward. “Come out with a gold medal and show all the girls, ‘Never give up, never give up, never give up.’ “
Word of Ramsey’s accomplishment spread quickly back to her collegiate alma mater.
“What an exciting moment for everyone in the WKU Track family, past and present, said WKU’s director of cross country/track and field, Brent Chumbley. “We wish Jessica the best as she takes on the world as part of Team USA. Go Tops!”
Success at a high level is nothing new for Ramsey, a native of Boynton Beach, Florida.
At WKU, Ramsey was a seven-time Sun Belt Conference individual champion — winning both the indoor and outdoor shot put titles in 2013 and 2014. In addition, Ramsey won the SBC weight throw in 2014, as well as the discus and the hammer in the same year.
Ramsey emerged as the Sun Belt Conference Indoor Track and Field Outstanding Female Field Performer of the 2014 meet after securing both throwing crowns. She earned the same prestigious honor for Outdoor meets in 2013 and 2014, having won discus, hammer and shot put in her final year on the Hill — when she was USTFCCCA Women’s Southeast Region Athlete of the Year.
Also in her senior season of 2014, Ramsey became the first WKU track and field athlete to qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Championships in at least three individual events, and since then only four others have been able to duplicate her feat.
How well-rounded an athlete was Ramsey at Western? She was first-team All-American in the shot put, second-team All-American in the hammer, and honorable mention All-American in the discus. That’s pretty well-rounded.
Moreover, what’s important to understand is that Ramsey is merely the latest ion a distinguished list of WKU standouts to compete in the Olympics, including swimmer Claire Donahue, who won a gold medal in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London as a member of the U.S. 4×100 medley relay team.
Among other WKU track and field athletes to compete in the Olympics were Great Britain’s Nick Rose (1976, 1980), who won an NCAA individual cross country championship in 1974, and Ireland’s Sean Dollman (1992, 1996), who won an NCAA individual cross country title in 1991 and an NCAA Outdoors championship at 10,000 meters in 1992.
But the latest is Jessica Ramsey, who is now No. 2 on the current world list of female shot putters behind two-time Olympic medalist Lijiao Gong of China
It will be interesting to see where Ramsey — who won a shot put bronze medal in the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru — takes it from here.