The University of Mississippi Athletics
Jalani Davis Repeats as NCAA Weight Throw Champion
3/7/2024 | Track and Field
BOSTON – Ole Miss track & field senior Jalani Davis completed her ascension from walk-on to superstar, repeating as NCAA Champion in the women's weight throw and putting herself into rare company in the history of the sport collegiately.
Davis broke through with her demonstrative wire-to-wire NCAA victory in 2023, but in 2024 she went into another stratosphere – as evidenced perfectly in her winning performance on Thursday night. Davis won on her third-round bomb of 24.80m/81-04.50 and blew away the competition in the process, as the runner-up – Minnesota's Shelby Frank – barely came within seven feet.
Davis fouled two in the final as she attempted to take down the long-standing collegiate record in her last attempts as a college athlete, but in the end it didn't matter, as no thrower other than Frank even came within two meters of her during the final three rounds.
The tale of the tape on this one – as with Davis' career as a whole – is long. She is the first Rebel woman to ever repeat as an NCAA Champion in any event, indoors or outdoors. Nationally, she is the first back-to-back champion since Louisville's D'Ana McCarty in 2009-10, and she is now one of just seven in collegiate history to ever win multiple women's weight titles alongside McCarty, Indiana State's Felisha Johnson (2011, '13), Southern Illinois' Brittany Riley (2007-08), Florida's Candice Scott (2002, '04-05), SMU's Florence Ezeh (2000-01) and South Carolina's Dawn Ellerbe (1996-97).
Her victory – combined with her prior win in 2023 and Shey Taiwo's massive title win in 2022 – makes Ole Miss just the third school in NCAA history to win at least three women's weight titles in a row, joining Florida (2002-05) and South Carolina (1996-98).
Davis' title is the 12th ever by a Rebel indoors, the fifth by an Ole Miss women's athlete – four of which have come since 2016 under the guidance of ninth-year head coach Connie Price-Smith.
Her winning throw also made history elsewhere, as she tied Taiwo and Riley for the collegiate record in career 24-meter tosses at nine. She ends as the record holder in both 24-meter throws (9) and 80-foot throws (5), tied for second in 23-meter throws (21) and as one of just three collegians to ever break 25 meters alongside Riley and Taiwo – both pupils of Price-Smith and her husband, throws coach John Smith. Davis ends her career ranked third collegiately behind those two at her SEC title-winning heave of 25.09m/82-03.75, which also ranks her ninth on the all-time world list.
But the story of Davis in her time at Ole Miss is synonymous with that of fellow All-American senior Jasmine Mitchell, who also ended her spectacular college weight throw career on Thursday night. Mitchell finished third at 22.15m/72-8, giving Ole Miss a whopping 16 meet points through just one event while also padding her already incredible career total.
In four tries, Mitchell never finished worse than fourth in the NCAA weight final, scoring 25 total points following a runner-up finish in 2022, a fourth-place finish as a sophomore in 2021 and back-to-back third-place showings in 2023 and 2024.
Combined, Davis and Mitchell end their career with a stranglehold over the collegiate record book. Mitchell ends as the career record holder in 23-meter throws (25), and together they own 27.2 percent of all the 23-meter throws (46-of-169) and 31.9 percent of the 24-meter throws (15-of-47) in women's collegiate history. Combined in the weight alone, Davis and Mitchell have scored 45 points across the last four years.
In the men's weight throw, sophomore Tarik Robinson-O'Hagan earned his third First-Team All-America honor following a fifth-place showing. Robinson-O'Hagan topped out at 22.97m/75-04.50, and combined with his third-place effort as a freshman in 2023, he now owns 10 career points in the NCAA weight throw alone.
All three Rebel throwers in action tonight will return on Saturday in their respective shot put competitions, along with freshman Mensi Stiff in the women's edition. Friday will feature All-American senior McKenzie Long in the women's 200-meter dash semifinal, which is scheduled for 7:40 p.m. CT.
For more information on the 2024 NCAA Indoor Championships, visit our meet preview HERE and our What to Watch guide HERE.
Day One NCAA Champions
Jalani Davis – Women's Weight Throw
Day One First-Team All-Americans
Jalani Davis – Women's Weight Throw, 1st Place
Jasmine Mitchell – Women's Weight Throw, 3rd Place
Tarik Robinson-O'Hagan – Men's Weight Throw, 5th Place
REBELS IN DAY ONE COMPETITION
Women's Weight Throw – Final
1. Jalani Davis – 24.80m/81-04.50 – NCAA Champion, First-Team All-American – Facility Record, No. 4 NCAA Meet History (No. 6 throw)
3. Jasmine Mitchell – 22.15m/72-8 – First-Team All-American
Men's Weight Throw – Final
5. Tarik Robinson-O'Hagan – 22.97m/75-04.50 – First-Team All-American
Davis broke through with her demonstrative wire-to-wire NCAA victory in 2023, but in 2024 she went into another stratosphere – as evidenced perfectly in her winning performance on Thursday night. Davis won on her third-round bomb of 24.80m/81-04.50 and blew away the competition in the process, as the runner-up – Minnesota's Shelby Frank – barely came within seven feet.
Davis fouled two in the final as she attempted to take down the long-standing collegiate record in her last attempts as a college athlete, but in the end it didn't matter, as no thrower other than Frank even came within two meters of her during the final three rounds.
The tale of the tape on this one – as with Davis' career as a whole – is long. She is the first Rebel woman to ever repeat as an NCAA Champion in any event, indoors or outdoors. Nationally, she is the first back-to-back champion since Louisville's D'Ana McCarty in 2009-10, and she is now one of just seven in collegiate history to ever win multiple women's weight titles alongside McCarty, Indiana State's Felisha Johnson (2011, '13), Southern Illinois' Brittany Riley (2007-08), Florida's Candice Scott (2002, '04-05), SMU's Florence Ezeh (2000-01) and South Carolina's Dawn Ellerbe (1996-97).
Her victory – combined with her prior win in 2023 and Shey Taiwo's massive title win in 2022 – makes Ole Miss just the third school in NCAA history to win at least three women's weight titles in a row, joining Florida (2002-05) and South Carolina (1996-98).
Davis' title is the 12th ever by a Rebel indoors, the fifth by an Ole Miss women's athlete – four of which have come since 2016 under the guidance of ninth-year head coach Connie Price-Smith.
Her winning throw also made history elsewhere, as she tied Taiwo and Riley for the collegiate record in career 24-meter tosses at nine. She ends as the record holder in both 24-meter throws (9) and 80-foot throws (5), tied for second in 23-meter throws (21) and as one of just three collegians to ever break 25 meters alongside Riley and Taiwo – both pupils of Price-Smith and her husband, throws coach John Smith. Davis ends her career ranked third collegiately behind those two at her SEC title-winning heave of 25.09m/82-03.75, which also ranks her ninth on the all-time world list.
But the story of Davis in her time at Ole Miss is synonymous with that of fellow All-American senior Jasmine Mitchell, who also ended her spectacular college weight throw career on Thursday night. Mitchell finished third at 22.15m/72-8, giving Ole Miss a whopping 16 meet points through just one event while also padding her already incredible career total.
In four tries, Mitchell never finished worse than fourth in the NCAA weight final, scoring 25 total points following a runner-up finish in 2022, a fourth-place finish as a sophomore in 2021 and back-to-back third-place showings in 2023 and 2024.
Combined, Davis and Mitchell end their career with a stranglehold over the collegiate record book. Mitchell ends as the career record holder in 23-meter throws (25), and together they own 27.2 percent of all the 23-meter throws (46-of-169) and 31.9 percent of the 24-meter throws (15-of-47) in women's collegiate history. Combined in the weight alone, Davis and Mitchell have scored 45 points across the last four years.
In the men's weight throw, sophomore Tarik Robinson-O'Hagan earned his third First-Team All-America honor following a fifth-place showing. Robinson-O'Hagan topped out at 22.97m/75-04.50, and combined with his third-place effort as a freshman in 2023, he now owns 10 career points in the NCAA weight throw alone.
All three Rebel throwers in action tonight will return on Saturday in their respective shot put competitions, along with freshman Mensi Stiff in the women's edition. Friday will feature All-American senior McKenzie Long in the women's 200-meter dash semifinal, which is scheduled for 7:40 p.m. CT.
For more information on the 2024 NCAA Indoor Championships, visit our meet preview HERE and our What to Watch guide HERE.
Day One NCAA Champions
Jalani Davis – Women's Weight Throw
Day One First-Team All-Americans
Jalani Davis – Women's Weight Throw, 1st Place
Jasmine Mitchell – Women's Weight Throw, 3rd Place
Tarik Robinson-O'Hagan – Men's Weight Throw, 5th Place
REBELS IN DAY ONE COMPETITION
Women's Weight Throw – Final
1. Jalani Davis – 24.80m/81-04.50 – NCAA Champion, First-Team All-American – Facility Record, No. 4 NCAA Meet History (No. 6 throw)
3. Jasmine Mitchell – 22.15m/72-8 – First-Team All-American
Men's Weight Throw – Final
5. Tarik Robinson-O'Hagan – 22.97m/75-04.50 – First-Team All-American
Players Mentioned
Throws
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