Oliviyah Thornton

Oliviyah Thornton

  • Award
    Women's Outdoor Field Athlete of the Week
  • Week Of
    4/21/2026
  • Sport
    Women's Outdoor Track & Field
  • School
    Dakota State
  • Year
    Junior
  • Position
  • Hometown
    Garretson, S.D.
  • High School
    Garretson High School
Women’s Outdoor Field Athlete-of-the-Week: Oliviyah Thornton, Dakota State (S.D.)
Thornton, a junior from Garretson, S.D., was selected as the Field Athlete-of-the-Week.

Thornton continues to throw NAIA qualifying marks, producing two personal records in the Northwestern (Iowa) Red Raider Open.  She threw all three NAIA national qualifying standards in the meet. 

Thornton improved her personal record and school record shot put mark with an 'A' automatic mark of 14.68 meters (48 feet, 2 inches), where she won the title. Her shot-put mark ranks third in the NAIA.

She added the NAIA 'B' standard mark and career best 45.22 meters (148 feet, 4 inches) in the discus. Her discus is the second best in the school record book and ranks No. 15 in the NAIA. Thornton added the NAIA 'B' mark of 53.09 meters (174 feet, 2 inches) to finish fourth in the event.

This is Thornton’s second career Erck Hotels/Frontier Conference Women’s Outdoor Track & Field weekly honor.