Bulldogs Soaring In The Javelin
April 10, 2025 | Track & Field, The Frierson Files
Staff Writer
One glance at the list of national collegiate leaders in 2025 tells you everything you need to know about Georgia's javelin group: the Bulldogs are loaded.
"It's hard to have this kind of depth," said Georgia associate head coach Don Babbitt, who has long been one of the top throws coaches in the world. "But with the way things have gone, with trying to win a national championship, you focus on events and take what points you can. And we were able to get some really good throwers."
And those throwers will be hard to beat as the track and field schedule heads toward the postseason.
On the women's side, the top four throws this outdoor season have come from Bulldogs Manuela Rotundo and Lianna Davidson. On the men's side, Moustafa Alsherif posted the longest throw in the country so far this year at last weekend's Florida Relays, sending the javelin 261 feet, 7 inches.
Back on March 21, Davidson, a senior transfer from Sydney, Australia, who spent three years at Texas A&M, led a Bulldog sweep of the podium in the javelin at the Yellow Jacket Invitational in Atlanta. Her best throw, 209 feet, 4 inches, was the second-longest in NCAA history and bested Georgia's previous school record of 205 feet, 4 inches, set by Marie-Therese Obst in 2021, by nearly 8 feet.
Last weekend, at the Florida Relays, Rotundo, a freshman from Paysandú, Uruguay, not only won the meet, her top throw of 210 feet, 7 inches, moved past Davidson for No. 2 on the NCAA's all-time list. She's in a virtual tie for the top spot all-time with Rhema Otabor of Nebraska, who threw 210-7 last June to win the NCAA title. In meters, Otabor's mark was 64.19 while Rotundo's was 64.17.
A talented volleyball player and track athlete growing up, competing on the Uruguayan national teams for both, Rotundo ultimately had to choose one to focus on going forward. It wasn't an easy decision, she said.
"I was like, Oh, my God, I don't know what I want to do," she said. "I chose track and field because it's an individual sport."
Clearly, she's chosen well. And Rotundo, the Uruguayan national record holder in the javelin, chose well in signing with Georgia, she said.
"We have a very good team — my teammates are so good," she said before heading to the Florida Relays. "I came here in January, and my lifting is better and my throws are better, so everything is better."
Rounding out the strong trio of throwers on the women's side is graduate student Erin McMeniman, who placed third at the Georgia Tech meet with a throw of 174 feet. McMeniman was a second-team All-American last season, and she said being around throwers like Rotundo and Davidson is elevating her performances.
"Being here, everyone's so international and competes at such elite levels, so just being able to train with everyone on a daily basis, and being on a team like this that's going after a team national championship, I love it," she said. "I've always loved that team aspect of track, just being a part of something that's greater than yourself, so going after that goal of winning a national championship is something very special."
Alsherif, from Cairo, Egypt, is used to big-time competitions. He represented Egypt in the Paris Olympics last summer, one of just 32 competitors in the field. Alsherif threw 245 feet, 7 inches in Paris, or more than 15 feet short of what he nailed last weekend. He has already earned a degree from the Arab Academy of Science and Technology, so this is his first season of collegiate competition in the United States and first time training every day and competing with a team.
"I think I have the same nerves as before the Olympics," Alsherif said before competing for Georgia for the first time last weekend, "because it's the first time for me to compete here in the U.S. and for Georgia. I want to do something for the team. ... Here, I'm part of the team, I have a family around me, and we need all of us to be the best."
Alsherif said he comes from a family of professional handball players who have competed for the national team in Egypt. He also played handball before being introduced to the javelin around 2011.
"I tried it, and just by practicing, day by day and year by year, and everything being good, I started to compete after like three years," he said. "And now I'm here, after the Olympics."
Davidson won an SEC javelin title for A&M last spring with a throw of 189-11 and was an All-Merican in 2022 and '24. She grew up playing baseball along with a lot of other sports.
"I've always had an arm," she said.
Davidson said she transferred to Georgia because of Babbitt and because of the Bulldogs' rich history in the javelin. Marc Minichello, who still trains with Babbitt, won the second of his two NCAA titles in 2024 (the first came when he was at Penn in 2022). Obst won the NCAA title in the event in 2021, Freya Jones won the title in 2013, Chris Hill went back-to-back in 2008-09, Vigdis Gudjonsdottir won it in 1999, and Kim Engel won in 1989.
The Bulldogs have won many SEC titles in the javelin over the years, the first one coming in 1933 (Graham Batchelor). Gudjonsdottir was a four-time SEC javelin champ.Â
"There's a big javelin legacy here, and I like the way (Babbitt) speaks about javelin," Davidson said. "His mottos and how he looks after you as an athlete, I think all that played a huge role in me wanting to come to a school that does focus on javelin and cares about who you are as a person."
The SEC Outdoor Championships begin May 15, at Kentucky, and the NCAA East Regionals are later next month in Jacksonville, Fla. The NCAA Outdoor Championships, where Georgia will be chasing individual and team titles, start June 11 at Oregon's Hayward Field.
Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files.
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