NAPOLI, Italy (July 13, 2019) - FIU track and field standout
Gabrielle Rains placed fourth in the discus at the 30th Summer University Games held in Italy, with a near personal best of 55.74m. Rains placed fourth of 11 competitors who reached the finals.
"I know she's really excited about her performance at world University games," said FIU head coach Ryan Heberling. "We talked after her performance and she's very excited about what she can accomplish next year. We're both thinking that 60m plus throw is in there and an Olympic year in 2020 is the perfect end goal."
The Summer University Games is an international university sports and cultural event that is staged every two years in a different city. These games draw many thousands of student-athletes together to compete, making it one of the largest multi-sport events in the world. The twelve-day competition includes 15 different sports.
Rains is coming off Second-Team All-American honors in the discus, after placing 13th at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Rains placed second in the Conference USA Outdoor Championships, with the impressive season following a stint off the track after being injured for all of the indoor campaign.
"Gabby dealt with a serious injury very early in the season. She overcame it to have one of the best seasons ever for a thrower at FIU," said Heberling. She really showed out the last few weeks of the season and accomplished all her goals.
The throw of 55.74m is the second best mark all time for Rains, whose PR is 56.90, thrown at the NCAA East Preliminaries this past May.
"She's still got a ton in the tank and we can't wait to see it. I'm very proud of her accomplishments. She's earned it."
For more information on the Summer University Games,
click here.
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