The Red and Black

Issue date: 4/7/09 Section: Sports

Media Credit: JIM DIFFLY Michelle Thompson has excelled at the javelin in her first season on the Georgia track and field team after transferring from Cuyamaca College in California. She has the best throw in the SEC this year. [Click to enlarge]

Note to coaches: Be sure to send a thank you card to Cuyamaca College.

With a women's track and field squad rebuilding at Georgia, coaches should be expressing their gratitude towards this small California community college - especially since it has provided a cornerstone to the effort. That would be javelin thrower Michelle Thompson, the explanation behind this personal reminder around the track and field offices.

A two-sport star at Cuyamaca College (basketball being the other), Thompson has exploded during her first season of competition as a Bulldog. Georgia has dominated in the throws in recent history, and Thompson is being dubbed as the next in line to carry the torch. She has thrown the javelin so far this season, so that torch looks to be in good hands.

"She is just such a competitor that there is no telling how good she can be - I believe she could challenge for the school record," said throws coach Don Babbitt.

A little hazy on the sport of javelin throwing? You are not alone. Thompson never even picked up a javelin before enrolling at Cuyamaca. In fact, she never knew the event existed. It took a couple eye-opening throws as a part of a college heptathlon for her to find her true calling in the sport. Thompson would eventually hold the community college record in the javelin (158 feet, 9 inches).

"What makes everything even more exciting is that I am so young in this sport," Thompson said. "It gives me an advantage, though, because I didn't have any old, bad habits. [Javelin] just fits me so perfectly."

In her first meet as a Bulldog, she threw the fifth best mark (162 feet, 4 inches) in Georgia history. Since then, Thompson has moved up to No. 4 in the record books with her throw at the Arizona State Invitational (169 feet, 5 inches). But records and natural ability are not the only precedent where she sets herself apart - it is her passion for the sport.

Continued...

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