A seventh Mainer who will compete in this year’s U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials is shot putter Becky O’Brien of Cumberland, a third-year assistant track coach at the University of Southern Maine in Gorham.
The 25-year-old O’Brien participated in the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials in the discus and the shot put, and placed second in the shot put at the 2015 USATF Indoor Championships with a career-best throw of 18.34 meters (60 feet, 2 inches).
She has a qualifying effort of 17.68 meters for the 2016 Trials in the shot put. American record holder Michelle Carter has the top qualifying mark of 20.21 meters.
O’Brien was a scholastic national champion in the shot put with a throw of 52 feet, 1 inch while a student at Greely High School in Cumberland Center.
She is a 2012 graduate of the University of Buffalo, where she set school and Mid-American Conference records for the shot put both indoors (57-7) and outdoors (56-6), and the discus (193-7).
The Olympic Trials women’s shot put competition is scheduled for July 7.
