March 10, 2017
By Jeff Shearer
AuburnTigers.com
AUBURN, Ala. - Jasmine Manigault's recruiting process differed from many elite student-athletes.
Instead of schools recruiting her, she recruited them. In junior college, Manigault contacted more than 40 schools, seeking an opportunity.
"And I wasn't good enough," she said. "A lot of coaches wouldn't email me back. Wouldn't talk to me. But Auburn did. They saw something."
Manigault rewarded Auburn's confidence by becoming one of the SEC's top throwers. At the SEC Indoor Track and Field Championships, she shattered the school record in the weight throw, finishing second in the event with a heave of 70.975/21.58 meters.
She will make her first NCAA Championship appearance Saturday in the weight throw, one of six Tigers competing in the Indoor Championships in College Station, Texas.
"I'm not nervous when I go in competition, because I work too hard to be nervous," Manigault said.
Manigault credits assistant coach Patrick Ebel with helping her make huge strides in her throws. When she arrived at Auburn from junior college, she topped out at 16 meters. Last year, she was reaching 18. Now, as a senior, she's coming close to 22.
"Once I got the coaching, that's when I saw the distances go up," she said. "He just got to work, and it just happened. "Once I had the coaching, there's no excuse not to do well. I was expected to do well.
"Training has been going really well. My coach is awesome. I feel like once I just him, everything was put together. That was all I needed."
Manigault also watches videos of professional throwers, looking for an edge.
"Most of the time I just watch them on video and try to mimic what they do," she said. "I use my strength to the best of my ability because I am strong. Once I have my strength and once I get my technique down, once I can believe in myself and look at professional people throw and try to do what they do, that's what makes it a big throw for me."
A public administration major, Manigault plans to pursue a master's degree, then work for the federal government, preferably the Veterans Administration.
First, she'd like to earn All-America honors by finishing in the top 8 Saturday at Nationals. Those schools that didn't respond to Manigault's correspondence two years ago would like to have a do-over.
"Auburn took a risk on me because I wasn't an SEC scorer coming in here," she said. "I wanted to go to a lot of SEC schools but I wasn't good enough. "But Auburn was interested. Auburn believed in me. Once I got a school that believed in me, I knew I couldn't let them down."
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: Follow @jeff_shearer