Renton High graduate Aretha Thurmond placed second in the discus at the 2011 USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Eugene, Ore. June 23-26.Thurmond threw a distance of 62.87 meters (206 feet, three inches).

Her performance qualified her for the IAAF World Track and Field Championships in South Korea in August. She is currently ranked third in the United States and ninth in the world for the 2011 season.

Thurmond, who graduated from Renton in 1994, won three state discus titles for the Indians. She later broke the collegiate discus record while at the University of Washington with a throw of 215 feet, three inches.