Elizabeth Bailey
Charlotte freshman and 2021 Eureka High School graduate Elizabeth Bailey has continued her run of excellence in the throws. Bailey took 2nd at the '21 Class 5 state meet in both the discus and javelin. This year for Charlotte, she got a javelin win at a home meet in late April. Then gained a big personal record (PR) of 51.09m/167-7'' to win the Conference USA title.
After a 31st place finish at the NCAA Division I East Preliminary Championships, Bailey placed 7th at the USA Under-20 meet at Oregon. Bailey's PR met the World Under-20 Championship qualifying standard while the top-2 finishers, and presumably the others ahead of her, hadn't meet the standard. Bailey was named to Team USA.
Bailey didn't have much time to get acclimated to the Southern Hemisphere. The javelin qualifying round kicked off the meet, Monday morning at 9:05 a.m. Bailey had tosses of 41.99m/137-9'' and 40.95m/134-4'' on her first two attempts. She recorded a foul on her third and final attempt to take 16th out of 16 and come up short of the automatic qualifying mark or a top-12 finish to advance to the finals.
Bailey got the opportunity so many athletes dream of. The chance to compete in a USA uniform for their country at an international competition. With three years of eligibility remaining, Bailey has a chance to turn a conference title victory into a streak and make her mark nationally on the collegiate stage. No matter what the future, she's put her name in the history books among some all-time Missouri greats that have competed for Team USA at the junior, U18, U20 level.