Hutchinson, Kansas — Pima College Sophomore Jessica Bright-Schade (Safford HS) secured a 6th place finished at the NJCAA Track and Field Championship in May with a throw of 36.28 meters (119-feet) on her second attempt. The top 8 finishers are awarded All-American status.
Bright-Schade is on a volleyball scholarship for the Aztecs but walked on to the track team this season.
“It’s very exciting, I wasn’t expecting this, but it was one of my goals to become an All-American,” Bright-Schade said. “I came in pretty low than what I wanted to come in being in the first flight out of two and a total of 22 girls. I really just put it all out there in my first three throws and got my furthest throw of 36.28 meters in the first flight which helped me get into the finals and secured me a spot as an All-American.
“On my first couple of throws they felt good but there was just little things where it was ‘oh I need to encounter the wind with my throw’ and sometimes I threw it way too high and that just shot it straight down. So those little adjustments helped me a lot.”
Bright-Schade will have one more season remaining with the Aztecs.
See what Jessica Bright-Schade (Safford HS) @jess_bright15 said about achieving her goal of becoming an All-American and making adjustments to her throws which paid off. #NJCAANationals #PimaTrack #AztecTough pic.twitter.com/LgNyT8sjZF
— PimaAthletics (@PimaAthletics) May 22, 2022
