Spooner short in bid for Olympics

By Rodrick Anderson

Trinity Spooner’s Olympic dreams will have to wait another four years.

At the USA Olympic Track and Field Trials in Eugene, Oregon, she made a solid first throw in the qualifying round on Friday but failed to make the Sunday finals.

“This experience has taught me many things, how the USATF works along with their point system and qualifications,” Spooner said.

“I have a better understanding of how everything is laid out and what to expect if I am able to continue throwing into 2028,” she said. “I hope to have a successful college career with no injuries and to continue to meet my goals. Then, post-collegiate, if God allows, I would like to pursue the 2028 Olympics in hopes of making it on the team.”

Spooner’s first throw of 167 feet, 7 inches put her in eighth place at that point. But Spooner scratched on her second throw and her third (153-10) wasn’t enough to keep her in the top 12 to advance. She missed making the finals by less than 2 feet and finished 15th.

“My performance in the prelims was tough,” Spooner said. “I felt good but just wasn’t connecting.

“I was really out of routine and had been in Eugene for almost nine days and the laziness of being in a hotel room and not doing much outside of practice really caught up with me. It was a weird experience, but I am very grateful to learn from this and to learn how to communicate this with my coach, and attempt to counteract these long stretches of travel and sitting around.”

Spooner said it was an eye-opening experience to see the support that track and field receives in Eugene, known as Track Town USA.

“People aren’t kidding when they say it is Track Town,” Spooner said. “There were people from all over that came just for a track meet. In most other places that is a very rare occurrence. Track isn’t very popular in a lot places, so to go somewhere that appreciates the sport is in an entire different level is a fun experience.”

Maggie Malone-Hardin set a meet record of 211-10 in her first throw on Sunday’s finals and was the lone athlete to meet the Olympic A standard of 210 feet. Malon-Hardin placed 10th at the 2020 Olympics.

Kara Winger was second at 206-6 and Madison Wiltrout was third with a personal best of 200-8.

Spooner enjoyed a stellar freshman season at LSU. She placed third at the Southeastern Conference championships (174-1) and seventh at the NCAA championships (179-10) to earn U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association All-American honors.

Prior to LSU, Spooner was a three-time Class 3A state javelin champion (2023, ’22, ’19) at South Beauregard High School.