Maria Deaviz leaves her mark at 2022 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Champions

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - A shot-putter at the University of Virginia has made it to the 2022 NCAA Track & Field National Championships.

Not only did Maria Deaviz place fourth, but she made history and broke her own record.

Deaviz’s journey to success includes hard work, dedication, and passion.

“I started throwing at the end of my sophomore year in high school,” said Deaviz. “My coach came up to me and said, ‘Listen, you have so much talent.’”

Deaviz says she took her coach’s advice to heart: “I would drive an hour a day after school to go train and then drive an hour back everyday. Just training, working, training, and working,” she said.

From high school to college sports, she focused on learning the ins and outs of being a high-level athlete.

“Throughout my first year, it was really just learning the ropes, how college athletics work physically and the mentality to set me up for this year,” said Deaviz.

All her hard work prepared her for what was to come in her second year at UVA.

“We just knew that if I was doing what we were doing in practice, just executing and trusting the training, trusting the process, we knew something was going to happen,” said Deaviz.

That something did happen: Deaviz became the the first female Cavalier to earn First-Team All-American honors in the women’s shot put at the 2022 NCAA Track & Field Championships.

“I could hear my coach and teammates yelling and I was like, I have to react, so I started pounding my chest because I was just so in the zone. I had no clue what I had just done,” said Deaviz.

Now she says she is ready for her next season and to reach new heights.

“I’m excited to keep going, to keep pushing and keep training. To just experience the new levels of athleticism that I can reach,” said Deaviz.

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