Track and Field Championships: Piperi prepared to power his way to shot put title

By Riley Zayas
Horns Illustrated Contributor

This week, from June 5-8, Mike A. Myers stadium will play host to the biggest event in college track and field — the NCAA National Championships. It will be a showcase of the best of the best in the NCAA with athletes competing in a variety of different running and field events, from the 100-meter dash to the 10,000-meter run, the high jump to the javelin.

Considering that the 2019 Texas track and field team has enjoyed so much success over the course of the outdoor season, it’s no wonder that 20 different Longhorns will be representing the host team this week. Out of all 20, four have stood out over the course of this journey to the championships. All four have different backgrounds, different stories and run different races, but all stand proud in the Eyes of Texas. Horns Illustrated profiles those four athletes heading into the big meet — Sam Worley, Tripp Piperi, Ashtin Zamzow and Teahna Daniels.

Tripp Piperi

Heading into his second NCAA Outdoor Championships, All-America thrower Tripp Piperi has one goal in mind: win.

Piperi got his throwing career off to a early start when he began the sport as an 8-year-old boy. Always showing a knack for getting the disc or shot further than his fellow competitors, The Woodlands native found himself quickly ascend to the top and earned a scholarship offer from Texas, an offer he knew he didn’t want to pass up.

“When I was choosing a college I had three factors,” he said. “First was the academics, second was the ‘do I feel like I’m at home there?’ and third was the track team itself. Obviously, the academics at UT are fantastic and the track team has been historically amazing.”

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Because of his above-average skills, Piperi not only received the opportunity to throw for the Longhorns, but also for Team USA at a very young age.

Last summer the now-sophomore threw at the U20 World Championships, winning the silver medal and setting the Under-20 American record in the shot put with a throw of 22.06 meters.

This experience earned and gained quickly become evident as Piperi placed fourth at the 2018 NCAAs and currently is ranked fourth on UT’s all-time shot put list. Coming off of a strong performance at the Big 12 Championships, where he won the shot put for the second straight season, Piperi said he is looking forward to competing in front of the home crowd and is hoping that fans will turn out to support him and his teammates.

“I’m really hoping that we can get a good turnout like Oregon always does. I think every competitor will tell you that having people cheer for you will boost morale, ability and adrenaline,” he said.

No doubt his family, with whom he is extremely close, will also be in attendance, amongst them his brother, Patrick. Not only does Patrick also throw shot put, but he is going to be joining his older brother on campus next fall as the second Piperi to throw for head coach Edrick Floreal.

“It’ll be great to have him here next fall,” Tripp said. “I talked to him quite a bit, and thankfully he decided to come here.”

Just as Patrick recently took the top spot in the shot put at the UIL 6A State Championships, Tripp also will try to claim a shot put title: the NCAA shot put title. The elder Piperi brother enters the meet with the top seed, and he knows that the time he has put in to perfecting his craft will pay off, especially if he reaches his goal.

When asked about his high level of performance, he said,“I’ve always enjoyed the sport and I’ve always wanted to get better. It’s never been a chore for me. Hard work and dedication (are) what you can draw it up to.”

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