Homegrown track & field star Rushin comes up short of Olympic dream

[Read more about Rushin's Olympic Trials experience and her sporting future in Tuesday's Southeast Missourian.]

Jill Rushin’s track and field career reached a new height when she competed in the shot put at the U.S. Olympic Trials on Thursday afternoon.

The Jackson High School and University of Missouri graduate came short of her goal, though, and did not secure one of the three Olympic qualifying spots.

Rushin, who entered the competition ranked 18th out of 24 competitors based on a throw of 58 feet, 1 3/4 inches during her senior season in 2015, finished 17th in the qualifying round, with only the top 12 advancing to the finals later in the day.

Rushin completed throws of 55-1/4 and 54-7 1/2.

"My body felt great, I felt great — it just did not, for some reason, time up,” Rushin said on Friday afternoon. "I know that I did the best that I can and that’s all you can do in the end. I’m happy for going out there and trying.”

Michell Carter won the event with a throw of 64-3 1/4 while Raven Saunders (63-1 1/2) and and Felisha Johnson (63-1 1/4) secured the remaining spots for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, which begin in August.

Jill Rushin competes in the shot put during her four-year career at Mizzou, which recently came to a close.Courtesy of University of Missouri

Kearsten Peoples, a teammate of Rushin’s at Mizzou, advanced to the finals, but finished 10th with a throw of 53-3/4.

“Competing at the Olympic Trials was awesome,” Rushin said. "It was really nice to have my whole family out there. That’s the first meet that they’ve all been to since high school and so it was just really awesome to have them all there.

"Just the atmosphere and all the girls that I was competing against, just knowing how hard they work, it was just an honor to be with everyone, and I really enjoyed it.”

Rushin planned to spend some time with her family and evaluate her future over the next few weeks before deciding if she’ll continue to train in the shot put.

"Things are up in the air,” Rushin said. "I honestly don’t have a plan. I’m just taking a few weeks to think about things and figure out what I’m going to do."