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The 19-year-old pole vaulter is the only UA representative at the championships.

“It’s pretty cool. It didn’t really hit me until I got here, but I think it’s really cool that I was able to come and just be able to represent my team,� Muhammad said.

During the regular season, Muhammad placed first with a jump of 4.20 meters during the Willie Williams Classic at Drachman Stadium and second at the Arizona Spring Break Fiesta with a jump of 3.96 meters.

At the NCAA Div. I West Regionals in Texas last month, she set the UA freshman record with a jump of 4.32 meters, according to Dominic Johnson, UA’s pole vault assistant coach.

Muhammad recalls knowing in the moment that she successfully made the record leap.

“I screamed when I was in the air, falling, for making (the jump),� she said. “But, then after I was like, OK, calm down and just point and give them a thumbs up.�

She says the moment “meant a lot� because, as a freshman athlete, it can be easy to get into your head about how well (or poorly) you’re performing. And logging the record at the NCAAs was the place to do it.

Now with her focus on the USA Track and Field U20 Championships, Muhammad is excited for a fun competition to end her season.

Once the Pittsburg, California, native returns to the UA next season, she’ll focus on fall training, which she initially missed out on last year due to being a mid-year athlete.

Both Muhammad and Johnson can’t wait to see what she’ll accomplish with a full season of training.

“I think she’s going to be absolutely one of the top in the NCAA,� Johnson said. “Without question, she will continue to break records in Arizona. … (She) also represents the program we’ve been building and to have an athlete of this caliber here, it’s fantastic, because we started a program five years ago, made up, really entirely, of walk-on athletes. And over the years, we’ve built it up to become a program that’s recognized nationally as a pole vault program. So, to have Jathiyah here is pretty fantastic.�

Update: Muhammad finished in second place at the USA Track and Field U20 Championships women's pole vault event. She logged a jump of 4.30m.