MOBILE, Ala. – The accolades and school records have been numerous for University of South Alabama's track and field thrower Autavia Fluker. Despite holding all those honors, the senior from Bessemer, Ala., still believes that she has something to prove this spring.

Fluker first got into sports when she was in middle school where she was a cheerleader and competed in both soccer and volleyball. She eventually gained a passion for track and field where she competed in the 60m, 100m and 4x100 meter relays for her local track club, the Bessemer Heat. One day, one of her coaches wanted her to throw the shot put. 

"I didn't want to throw the shot put," Fluker said. "I wanted to run, but I gave it a chance. At the time, I was unaware of how far I threw it. Over the next several years, my coach had me running while also throwing the shot put. I still wanted to be a runner, so my focus was not on throwing the shot put."

As time progressed, she began to advance in the sport where she was able to compete at the state meet as an eighth-grader and earned a top-three finish. Following that performance, Fluker knew that there was more to her than she had imagined.  

"In the eighth grade, I made it to the state meet and placed in the top three; that's when I thought I may be good at it," Fluker said. "I continued to place in the top three, and during my junior and senior seasons, I broke the school record and won the state meet. Of course, I still wanted to run, but the shot put made me fall in love with it."

Fluker would go on to letter in track & field at Bessemer City High School where she set state 6A and school records in the shot put and won the state title in the event three-straight seasons – 2013, 2014 and 2015. 

That is when she fell in love with the discipline. 

When Fluker first arrived at South, she struggled in track and field, but that did not stop her coach from molding her into the athlete she is today. South Alabama head track and field coach Paul Brueske – who has coached Fluker for six years – first saw the potential in her at the state meets. 

"I first met her in high school, and she came to one of our camps. I recognized her right away," Brueske said. "Even though she was very raw, she still had a lot of potential. When she came in her first year, I knew she had the talent, but she was struggling. She was learning new techniques and transitioning from old habits. We experimented with different techniques, and she made progress. 

"We redshirted her during her first year and kept working on her. She was determined and kept working and working. At first, her progress was a little slow, but she just kept gradually improving. Each year, if you look at her progression, she improved each season, and she continues to do so. She is better this fall than she was last fall, and she has made tremendous progress in her two events – the hammer throw and the shot put. She has come a long way, and she's a great example for the younger athletes." 

At the 2017 Outdoor Sun Belt Championships, Fluker placed fifth in the shot put (14.86m) and eighth in the hammer throw (53.47m). She recorded her personal-best in the shot put with a distance of 14.69m in indoor at the South Alabama Invitational. During her sophomore campaign, she placed 33rd in the shot put with a 15.11m mark at the 2018 NCAA Division I East Preliminary Round. She continued to excel at South by earning second-team all-conference honors and posted a shot put distance of 15.38m at the 2018 Outdoor Sun Belt Championship, which ranked second in the record books at South. This was only the beginning for Fluker.

During her junior season, Fluker was selected as the Sun Belt Women's Most Outstanding Field Performer after winning the conference shot put championship with a 14.67m distance, while also placing second in the hammer throw with a toss of 58.36m. She also qualified for the NCAA Division I East Preliminary Round that same season in two events, finishing 20th in the shot put (15.86m) and 45th in the hammer throw (53.49m). 

Fluker continued to develop herself into one of the perennial shot putters in the league by eclipsing her own program marks in the event twice during her junior season. She was also named Sun Belt Field Athlete of the Week three times during the season. At the 2019 Indoor Sun Belt Championships, she won the shot put and claimed first-team all-conference honors with a 15.27m mark. She also managed to break her school record again with a distance of 15.44m in the shot put earlier in the season at the Vanderbilt Invitational. 

Last season, Fluker added her name to the program records in the hammer throw with a distance of 62.70m and won the shot put (16.00m) at the Jaguar Opener. She also earned all-conference honors, claimed first in the shot put (15.34m) and placed third in the weight throw with a personal-best of 18.83m at the 2020 Indoor Sun Belt Championships. She was also voted Sun Belt Conference Women's Indoor Field Athlete of the Week two consecutive weeks during the season. 

"The first week when I received the indoor field athlete of the week award, it felt weird," Fluker noted. "I did not know how it worked, so in my mind, I just wanted to continue to do my best. The second time I received the award, it gave me more motivation. I was improving every other week because of how much work I was putting in. You never want your work to go unnoticed, and being rewarded two weeks in a row gave me the push that I needed to continue working harder."

Brueske is proud of the athlete she is becoming and is ready to help aid her along her journey in her career. 

"We've got some benchmarks that we think we could qualify her for the 2021 Olympic Trials", said Brueske. "It is not going to be easy. It's a blessing that she doesn't have indoor eligibility anymore, so we don't have the distraction of getting ready for that season, so we can kind of take our time, and she can focus on the outdoor events. 

"She's a grown woman now. I don't overcoach her, but at this point, the more she develops into a self-reliant athlete, the better a competitor she is going to be. She has some work to do, but she has an opportunity in both the shot put and the hammer throw. We are going to keep working hard and focus on the outdoor season. She knows what she needs to do, and I am just here to help her."

Last spring things seemed to be shaping up early on for one of those stellar seasons during the outdoor campaign, but like for many sports and student-athletes, the coronavirus pandemic dealt a blow to Fluker. However, another opportunity was awarded to the senior.

"After that first meet, she was ranked first in the nation in the NCAA in the hammer throw," Brueske said. "So, it was devastating when they canceled the season shortly thereafter. But then, I started hearing talk about giving these seniors another opportunity. She was devastated, along with the other athlete, Opont [Rickssen], who was also devastated. I was speaking with them and said, 'This may be a blessing in disguise because you're going to be getting another year. It's going to give you another chance to mature and possibly make it to the NCAA championships, and possibly the Olympic Trials.' It's a blessing in disguise. I don't have to tell Fluker what to do because she knows what she needs to do to get to the next level."

Over Fluker's years at South, she has become a role model for the younger athletes and continues to work hard towards her goals. One of her goals is to throw 66m or higher in the hammer and 17m in the shot put at the Track and Field Championships. 

"As a freshman, I had a hard time catching on to the hammer throw", said Fluker. "It was not my comfort zone, but the thought of performing well in two events pushed me to do as well as I did. That was not my best toss when I threw the 62m in the hammer throw last season, so it gave me the courage to keep working hard towards my goals and see what God has in store for me in the 2021 season."

Fluker is currently earning her second bachelor's degree in health, and her main goal is to be a member of the USA track and field team. She admires Olympian Michelle Carter because she relates to her. 

"Michelle is a sharp athlete; she has confidence in everything she does, and she is calm," Fluker said of what she admires in the Olympian. "In every room that she steps in, she steps in with confidence, and that is how I strive to be. My hometown also motivates me. They have always told me that I was going to make it and to always remember them. They believed in me when I didn't believe in myself, so everything I do, I do for them." 


Along with aspirations and goals of defending her league titles in the two events, as well as earning Al-American honors, Fluker is also looking to qualify for the Olympic Trials during the spring by either by an automatic or provisional mark. 

"I would like to get around six meters or higher on my hammer throw," Fluker said. "That would put me in a good position for both the NCAA Championships and the Olympic Trials. In shot, 17 meters would be very good for me, but consistency is my main goal."

With her strong work ethic, nothing seems impossible for Fluker. With one competitive season remaining in Mobile, she still has something to prove, and it is only the beginning of how far she can go.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).