Rafaela Diamond '20 Recruiting Profile

My name is Rafaela Diamond, and I’m graduating from Arlington High School in Massachusetts in 2020. I knew going into track and field that I wanted to be a thrower. I used to play softball and had been told many times that I had a good arm, so I knew I could be successful in the throwing events. I started track spring season of my freshman year doing sprinting and shot put. I wasn’t given the opportunity to try javelin until a meet halfway through the season where I placed first with a 79 foot throw. I threw javelin the rest of the season, winning almost all of my remaining dual meets, coming in 16th at the state divisional meet (in addition to competing with the 4x100 relay team) and ending up with a season best of 99’10” at the heptathlon. I came into sophomore year with high expectations but I never expected to do as well as I did. I was restricted from running by a pre-season soccer ankle injury, but focused on strength training and throwing. I went undefeated in my dual meets, had a PR of 121’11, won the Middlesex league, 4th in my division, and went to New Balance Nationals for Emerging Elite... At the end of the season, I won Middlesex league all-star and my teammates elected me a captain for next year.

My school has not really had much of a throwing program--my first year I was often the only girl throwing javelin--but this past year we always had a full roster for javelin throwers at our meets. I am proud that my success has inspired many teammates to try out javelin. This year I am switching to winter track & field from basketball to work on shot put and jumps to prepare for heptathlon. I look forward to see how far I can take my efforts in throws in the rest of my high school career and taking it to the next level in college.

Besides being a multi-sport athlete, I am also invested in my academic performance and maintain a high grade point average in honors and AP classes. While I do not yet know what I want to study in college I have found biology and Spanish the most compelling subjects so far. Art, music and baking are a big part of my life outside of sports. I have an artistic mind, a musical ear, a baker’s hand and a thrower’s arm. I’ve always been athletic and have competed at many different sports so far in my life, but javelin is one that I can really call my own.