Former Jackson standout Rushin finds comfort in best shot, family at Olympic Trials

For the first time since she wrapped up a stellar track and field career at Jackson High School in 2010, Jill Rushin got to compete with her entire immediate family in attendance.

Her parents, brothers and sister, as well as an aunt, uncle, cousin and grandma, made the trip to Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, to watch her battle for a spot on Team USA in the Olympic Trials last Thursday.

For Rushin, the familiar faces were a welcome sight after she failed to make the cut for the finals in the shot put.

"Having them there, in general, was nice," Rushin said. "I didn't really think about it during the competition because I'm usually in the zone during competition, but having them there afterwards was really nice because I was pretty upset for not making it to finals. You work really hard, so it stinks when it doesn't happen, but it was still a really cool experience. Like, I still enjoyed every single moment of it. Even though I was upset I just enjoyed watching the finals later that day.

"You have a choice to either pout about [not making it] or you can get over it and go cheer for people that you respect as well. I had a great time with that and just am not thinking that it's the end of the world. It stunk, but life goes on, and I plan to continue training, so I'm in good spirits and it's really nice to be around my family right now."

Rushin entered the competition ranked 18th out of 24 competitors based on a throw of 58 feet, 1 3/4 inches during her senior season at the University of Missouri in 2015.

She finished 17th in the qualifying round with throws of 55-1/4 and 54-71/2. Only the top 12 advance to the finals.

"In all honesty, I learned that God's with me no matter what, whether I win or lose, because a lot of people do come away from an event like this pretty devastated if they're only depending on themselves," Rushin said. "But because God is my rock and my foundation I'm OK because I know that it's not in his plan, and his plan's greater than mine. I guess that's one of the biggest lessons that I learned from it."

Michell Carter won the event with a throw of 64-3 1/4, while Raven Saunders (63-1 1/2) and Felisha Johnson (63-1 1/4) secured the remaining spots for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, which begin in August.

Kearsten Peoples, a teammate of Rushin's at Mizzou, advanced to the finals but finished 10th with a throw of 53-3/4.

"My body felt great, I felt great, it just did not for some reason time up," Rushin said. "I know that I did the best that I can, and that's all you can do in the end. I'm happy for going out there and trying."

Rushin was a three-time state champion in high school, two-time NCAA indoor All-American and capped her Missouri career a year ago as an NCAA outdoor All-American in the shot put.

She'd continued training in Columbia, Missouri, leading up to the Olympic Trials while working part-time for Athletes in Action, a ministry group. She also raised funds to go to the Olympic Trials with a golf tournament in Jackson last fall, noting "the support of my small-town community was pretty awesome."

"You look at the glamour on TV that they sometimes show and they're showing the top professionals," Rushin said of the sport. "You don't realize that not everybody has a contract. You don't realize that people are generally training and then they have full-time jobs on the side. That's something that a lot of people don't know about track and field athletes. That's one of the coolest things though because we definitely do it for the love of the sport. We do not do it for the money.

"We do it because we love it, and I think that's one of the coolest things about track and field."

Rushin is uncertain what her future holds. Ideally, she'd continue training for another shot at fulfilling her dream, but she's also interested in the medical field and is considering going to medical school someday.

"Things are up in the air. I honestly don't have a plan," Rushin said. "I'm just taking a few weeks to think about things and figure out what I'm going to do."