MU track’s Barrios wins javelin title at NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships
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- Valentina Barrios Bornacelli won Mizzou’s first javelin national title with 203-5.
- Her record throw moved her from fifth to first and fifth all-time in NCAA history.
- Alicia Burnett ended her season 11th in the 100m, improving from a No. 21 ranking.
Mizzou track and field junior Valentina Barrios Bornacelli made program history on Day 2 of the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon.
With her final attempt in the women’s javelin finals Thursday, Barrios Bornacelli fired off a throw of 203 feet, 5 inches, winning the event — and the national championship.
The triumph marked the Missouri program’s first individual javelin national title and a new personal-best throw for Barrios Bornacelli, shattering a mark of 190-11 set at the SEC Outdoor Championships on May 15 in Lexington, Kentucky.
“It takes a team effort around the program to allow any of our athletes the opportunity to achieve at the highest level, and Valentina is a product of that,” Mizzou coach Brett Halter said in a news release.
“She deserves all the credit in the world. She believed in the plan, stuck to it, and trusted the work she had put into her craft over the last couple of years. I’m incredibly proud of her.”
The program-record throw moved Barrios Bornacelli from fifth place in the competition into first, and to No. 5 on the all-time collegiate women’s javelin list.
Tigers senior Alicia Burnett also closed her season at Hayward Field in style after blazing to a time of 11.11 seconds in the women’s 100-meter dash semifinals, taking 11th in the nation. Although she did not advance to the finals, the St. Louis product capped a season that saw her rewrite Mizzou history.
On May 31 at the NCAA West Regional in College Station, Texas, Burnett sped to a time of 11.10 in the 100 to punch her ticket to Eugene, Oregon, and break her own record in the event. While Burnett entered the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships ranked at No. 21, she finished her contention placed ten spots higher.
The action continues with senior Skylar Coffey competing in the men’s discus finals at 4:15 p.m. Friday in Eugene, Oregon.
Copyright 2025 Columbia Missourian
This story was originally published June 13, 2025 at 3:09 PM.