All-American: Falotico earns accolade after finishing seventh in javelin

GENEVA, Ohio – Each of the past two weeks, Gavin Falotico needed to throw his best to reach his goals. Last week, he needed a personal-best effort to qualify for the NCAA Division III Championships. After reaching that goal, Falotico, who was seeded 17th out of 20 competitors at the Championships, knew he would need his best effort to reach All-American status. He did just that once again, finishing seventh to become the latest All-American for Concordia University Wisconsin.

Falotico (Palatine, Ill.) landed a throw of 62.31 meters on his first attempt Thursday for the seventh-place finish. The top eight finishers in each event at the Division III Track and Field Championships earn All-American status.

The sophomore entered the NCAA Championships seeded 17th after throwing 60.75 meters last weekend at a final qualifier meet. He entered last week ranked 24th nationally before moving up to 20th at the final qualifier. A few ahead of him did not compete, resulting in him being ranked 17th entering the Championships.

Falotico's All-American accolade means CUW has now had an athlete earn that status in back-to-back years. Last year, Nicole Larson was an All-American in the pole vault during both the indoor and outdoor seasons. He also joins Brock Solveson as a Falcon to earn All-American honors in the javelin as Solveson won the event in 2009. 

Falotico had a tremendous sophomore season. He is a two-time All-Region selection in two sports, men's soccer being the other. He was a perfect 6-for-6 in terms of winning the javelin throw during the outdoor season before the Championships on Thursday. And now he is the latest All-American at Concordia University Wisconsin.