Cal Track & Field: Anna Purchase Third in Hammer Throw at NCAA Meet

Ex-Golden Bear Ezinne Abba helps Texas women break their own NCAA mark in the 4x100 relay.

Cal senior Anna Purchase finished third in the women’s hammer throw at the NCAA championships on Thursday in rainy Austin, Texas.

Purchase, who was seventh at the meet a year ago, had hoped to add to Cal’s run of consecutive national titles in the event after ex-Golden Bears Camryn Rogers won three a row.

While Cal’s 4x100 women’s relay team failed to qualify for the Saturday final, the Texas women, including Cal transfer Ezinne Abba, broke their own collegiate record with a mark of 41.55 seconds in the semifinals.

Anna Purchase / Photo by Brendan Maloney

A native of Nottingham, England, Purchase was pegged by Track and Field News at mid-season as the favorite after she posted a then-NCAA-leading mark of 239-7 (73.02) that ranks her No. 6 on the all-time college list. But in the publication’s most recent form chart, she was rated No. 4, with Harvard’s Stephanie Ratcilffe projected to win.

Purchase threw 234 feet, 5 inches (71.47 meters) in the first round to immediately settle into third place then fouled on her next four attempts. A mark of 217-0 (66.15) in the final round did not improve her standing.

Ratcliffe won with a personal-best throw of 241 feet, 7 inches (73.63 meters), the longest throw of the season by a collegiate athlete, an Australian national record and an improvement of her ranking of No. 5 in collegiate history. Runnerup was Auburn’s Madi Malone, also with a personal best of 237-5 (72.37).

Ratcliffe also had the day’s second-best mark while Malone delivered five throws longer than anything Purchase could manage.

All three podium finishers delivered their best throws with their first-round attempts.

Cal’s Audrey Jacobs, seeded No. 14, wound up 13th with a best of 209-2 (63.77), less than three feet off her personal best.

Earlier, junior Jeff Duensing earned All-America honors by finishing eighth in the men’s shot put with a personal-best throw of 65-6 3/4 (19.98) that moves him from a tie for third all-time at Cal to sole possession of the No. 3 spot.

Decathlete Hakim McMorris was in seventh place after Day 1 of the 10-event competition but hit a hurdle in the first event on Thursday and did not finish finish, ending his competition.

McMorris had a personal-best of 6-7 (2.01) in the high jump and a season-best of 46-2 1/2 (4.08) in the shot put.

Junior Amari Turner finished in a tie for ninth in the pole vault, clearing 13-7 1/4 (4.15), and freshman Carolina Visca was 12th in the javelin at 170-0, 10 feet off her school record.

Cover photo of Anna Purchase by Brendan Maloney

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo