EUGENE, Ore. – Junior James Kotowski (Stoneham, Mass.) of the UMass Lowell men's track and field team has earned fifth-place honors at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials, reaching a personal-best and school-best distance of 75.69m in the finals.

"James came into the meet today with a way more excited-nervous attitude," said Associate Head Coach Allyson Waruch. "He knew he could improve and was ready to take advantage of this amazing track and field crowd. For him to PR at the biggest meet in the country was amazing to watch. All his hard work and diligent rehabbing paid off huge. We could not be more proud of him."

Kotowski earned his spot in Sunday's finals after taking eighth place in the first round on Friday afternoon with a 71.26m mark on his final throw. He hit just under that on his first throw of today's finals, before smashing his personal best on just his second throw, reaching 75.69m. On his fourth throw, he hit another amazing mark with a toss of 75.39m, before closing out the meet in the fifth-place position. 

"I was so excited to be able to compete at Hayward Field finally, and especially on one of the biggest stages," said Kotowski. "Spending these past few days there was so surreal and I spent as much time as I could taking in everything I was fortunate enough to experience along with all the special athletes I was surrounded by. I kept telling myself on both competition days while I was warming up and on the field throwing to just have fun and be confident in my abilities. Remaining calm and relaxing before every throw definitely helped me get the throws that I wanted out there. And I can't thank my support crew enough consisting of my throws coach Barbara Smith and the Associate Head Coach Allyson Waruch for being there for me the whole week, and special thanks to my family for making the journey to watch me throw."