Ryan Crouser lauds Arkansas Razorbacks' Roje Stona on new personal best and bagging silver at NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships

Olympic gold medalist Ryan Crouser recently extended his wishes to Roje Stona following the latter's victory at the 2024 NCAA Division 1 Indoor Track and Field Championships.

The NCAA Division 1 Indoor Track and Field Championships 2024 were scheduled from March 7 to 9 at The TRACK at New Balance in Boston, Massachusetts. On the final day of the competition, Stona, the shot put thrower for the Arkansas Razorbacks, secured a silver medal.

Stona achieved this feat after recording his personal best throw of 20.48m and defeating South Carolina's Dylan Targgart, who recorded 19.95m. University of Mississippi's Tarik Robinson O'Hagan clinched the gold medal after registering a throw of 21.05.

The two-time world champion, Crouser, who serves as the volunteer coach for the University of Arkansas men's track and field team, took to his social media to extend his praise towards the 25-year-old.

Screenshot of Ryan Crouser's Instagram story.

Further, Crouser shared another glimpse of him and the NCAA athlete performing a few drills before the competition.

"High pressure preparation moments," the Olympian wrote.

Arkansas Razorbacks head coach Chris Bucknam commended Stona for the victory which revived the team and helped them finish as the national runner-up after gathering 41 points.

"Rojé is phenomenal competitor and what a blessing he’s been for our team. He’s a great talent and just a great kid", said Bucknam (via Arkansas Razorbacks' official website.

"He brought us back into this meet when we were down after a few events where we thought we were going to score a few more points and he goes out and gets a silver medal in the shot put and breaks the school record", he added.

"With all that has happened it was a phenomenal throw" - Ryan Crouser on securing a World Championships gold medal after suffering from blood clots

Ryan Crouser reacts after winning a Gold Medal in the Men's Shot Put during the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary.

Ryan Crouser showed his excellent athletic proficiency at the World Athletics Championships in the Hungarian capital last year.

However, it wasn't an easy victory for the 31-year-old Portland native as he suffered from two blood clots in his calf only a week before the Championships. Undeterred by the obstacle, he clinched a gold medal after recording 23.51m, setting a championship record.

After bagging gold in Budapest, Crouser opened up on the challenges and expressed his delight in defending the title.

"That was a tough one," he said in August 2023, via the Guardian. "The last few days have been hard, so with all that has happened it was a phenomenal throw. After all that it was the best performance of my life, given the health issues, the stress and all of it. It wasn’t quite a world record but to me it was."