Kovatch Dispatches Ghosts in All-American finish

EUGENE, Ore. – After her first throw on Saturday, Klaire Kovatch walked over to the stands where her teammates were sitting and cheering at Hayward Field. She looked at them and said, "guys, I've got a mark."

Ghosts are real.

Maybe not the paranormal kind, but the version which live in the mind and can haunt thoughts at inopportune times.

A year earlier, Kovatch came to the NCAA Outdoor Championships for the second time in the discus and scratched on all three of her throws. One hit the cage, the others were foot fouls. It left her with no marks and plenty of doubt.

"Honestly, I think it crept in more throughout the week. Not necessarily today, because earlier in the week I hadn't been in the ring," Kovatch said. "And then on Wednesday I was able to get in, and I felt it out, and I had a good practice. I was like, 'you know what? I'm a different athlete this year. Let's not let it affect us this year.' I just was like, my goal is to make the final.

"And by having a mark it gave me a solid chance. And not only that, having a solid mark like that allows me to compete more freely. I struggled with that today. I was being more deliberate than I needed to be. I needed to be more of an athlete, but man, it gave me a fighting chance."

The best way to shoo away unwanted memories is to smother them with something better. Grander. Her first throw of the day would land her a spot in the finals, sitting in the eighth spot. Her first throw of finals moved her up to seventh, and the final throw of her career – a 187-0 – vaulted her two spots to finish in fifth and mark her as a first-team All-American for the first time.

Her toss was the sixth best by a CSU woman in the event at nationals as she became the eighth to earn first-team honors in an event where the program has produced 12 such finishes overall. It was the best standing for the team in the event since Shadae Lawrence placed third in 2019.

Coach Brian Bedard wasn't worried about her being haunted by the past, not after the season she built. It was a feeling which was cemented throughout the week by her approach, and the veteran mentor knew it was one he had to match.

During warmups, he kept his instruction basic. He had seen her do her thing consistently all season, and he had witnessed no distractions.

"I made that decision early. She had confidence before the competition, and her warmups went well. I asked her what her cueing was going to be, and that aligned with what I thought she should do, so I even told her parents when I saw her before the meet started that I'm going to keep my mouth shut and not over-coach her, like coaches have a tendency to do," he said. "We get excited and start tinkering. Not always a good thing.

"I think in the prelims, she was maybe so cued, so really trying to work on anxiety and nerves that she almost was a hair flat, so in the finals, I wanted her to just compete and go out and see how many people we can beat and cue a bit less, and she did that really well."

The event was won by a Paris OIympian, Florida's Alida Van Daalen, with a meet-record mark of 216-6. She was the only one in the field to exceed 200 feet, which she did on five of her six throws.

When Kovatch stepped into the circle for the final time, her spot as a first-teamer was already secured, a freedom which eliminated any reason to hold back and to cut loose.

Her exit, for her, was perfect.

"Absolutely. I mean, this is it for me. I'm done," she said, her throwing journey over. "I'm not going to continue on. I'm going to go do my thing in dietetics, and I'm so excited for my future. But it is a little bittersweet, right?

"I've been putting over a decade of my career into this, but to leave on that … A lot of times I struggle with moving up in my last three throws. So today, for me to be able to stick in the fight and move up in place like that and have my best throw on my last one was just absolutely the best way to end my career."

A year prior, she left Eugene and Hayward Field with bad memories, and it took her awhile to shake them. An offseason back home in Montana helped push them aside, but when competition began for the outdoor season, she set out to leave the past where it was and focus on better days.

It was a campaign where she would win another Mountain West championship and register her personal best of 195-1, which stands sixth on a very storied list of competitors, all of whom Bedard has guided.

The highs are always remembered, as are the pile of accolades. Each one of them had to conquer some feeling of doubt at one point or another. Watching them let it go is a reward.

"I really thought she could move up into that fourth position, and she got close," Bedard said. "She felt it too, that she could definitely climb the ladder a bit, so it was great to see her do that, pull it off."

Fitting. Hayward Field stands where its historic predecessor once stood, a grand facility to highlight the sport of track and field where the spirits of the past are felt by many who compete. They think about who ran on those lanes before them, who stood in those circles and gave it their all.

When Kovatch walked to the stands the final time in the building to talk to Bedard, the place no longer haunted her. The smile she wore told a different story.

"For me it hasn't just been building over one year. I had a pretty disappointing first appearance as well, and then my second appearance was even worse," said Kovatch, who placed 21^st in 2023. "It's a little bit hard to come into that and be confident in your NCAA meet.

"I am so thankful because, man, God has really just given me a perspective on what matters in life. And also just, I'm so blessed to be here. Not everyone gets to come and do this, and I am here and fifth in the nation."

Because ghosts are real. She felt them immediately in 2025. Felt their presence early in the year, then early this week in the place they originally gained strength.

It was then she discovered it was she who gave them power.

Before she ever threw a discus on the final day of competition, she had seized back the control.

"They're only as real as you let them be. There was that battle that I had of just like, Lord, let me be my best. Don't let me fear," Kovatch said. "Don't let me let the devil come in and try to tell me otherwise."

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