LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The University of Louisville women's track and field program is nothing like Holly Geibel envisioned when she accepted a scholarship from the program three years ago.

It's much, much better.

Geibel, a Butler graduate now in her redshirt sophomore season throwing the javelin at Louisville, tossed a personal-best 152 feet, 9 inches to place second at the Big East Championships recently.

Her throwing coach is Mark Rodriguez. Her head coach is Ron Mann. She is working with former Purdue standout Serene Ross, the national record-holder in the women's javelin.

None of those people were at Louisville when Geibel accepted her scholarship.

"These were definitely changes for the better,"Geibel said. "These coaches are preparing to take us to the national level.

"We have 12 strong recruits coming in next year on the women's side alone."

None of them throw the javelin, however. That position on the team belongs to Geibel, whose previous personal best was 144-1/2 at the Penn Relays.

"It's rare that someone beats her personal best by that much,"Rodriguez said. "But I'm not surprised Holly is where she's at right now. We prepare our throwers to peak at the conference meet.

"I'm a detail-oriented person and so is Holly. ... She's followed her training schedule perfectly."

Only Angela Hoover of the University of Pittsburgh, who turned in a mark of 160-0, beat Geibel at the Big East meet.

The next stage of competition for Louisville is the NCAAregional May 26 at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

"I'm figuring I'll need to hit 157 feet to qualify for nationals,"Geibel said. "My goal is to get there this year, experience it, and set up a stronger chance for next year."

Geibel's 152-9 currently has her ranked 12th in the region, 32nd in the nation.

"The way she's progressing, Holly can be an all-American next year,"Rodriguez said. "Her biggest improvement is coming with strength. She's getting more and more explosive before her release."

Geibel had a personal-best of 136-10 her freshman year. She placed third in the Conference USAChampionships that year.

Every Louisville thrower but one — a fifth-year senior on the men's team — was redshirted last year in preparation for the Cardinals' move to the Big East this season.

"All of our throwers benefited from that,"Rodriguez said. "We have six regional qualifiers already."

"It worked out because it gave us a year to get accustomed to the new coaches,"Geibel said.

Geibel met Ross this season after the latter moved to the Louisville area in search of an assistant coaching position. Ross is a volunteer assistant this year and may join the staff as a regular next year.

She has been working with Geibel for three weeks now.

"She's helped me tremendously,"Geibel said. "She's worked with me on my approach and changed my technique for the better."

Geibel continues to excel in the classroom as well. She recently received an award for being ranked No. 1 in her junior civil engineering class in grade point average with a 3.9.

"I was shocked when I learned I was getting that award,"she said.

She hopes to shock more javelin opponents down the road.

"Holly's focused on her training and she knows what to do to improve,"Rodriguez said. "I'm excited about her future."