The best athlete among the 700 or so collegians competing at the April 4-5 Jerry Quiller Classic on the University of Colorado Boulder’s east campus Potts Field will likely be javelin thrower Jada Green, the former CU multi-events star who finished her eligibility in the just-completed indoor season.

Green, an integrative physiology major and former state champ from Durham, N.C., is continuing to train with CU assistant coach Lindsey Malone as she begins to navigate the perilous path to a successful post-collegiate career. The Quiller Classic, the CU track team’s lone home meet of the season, is her first as an unattached, unsponsored athlete, and is a small step in a long journey that some say could land her at this summer’s World Athletic Championships in Tokyo and on to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games, if she keeps improving as she has done in the big meets so far.

“Jada is fast, strong and powerful,” CU throws coach Casey Malone said in between gusts of wind Thursday afternoon as the Buffs, from sprinters and distance runners through throwers and hurdlers, went through their workouts. “She has all the ability, and Lindsay loves coaching her.”

The Quiller Classic (cubuffs.com) is sandwiched between two big sea-level meets — this weekend’s N.C. State Raleigh Relays, and then the April 11 Bryan Clay Invite in Azusa, Calif., meaning that the top distance runners, including Isaiah Givens, fresh off a school-record 3 minute, 55-second mile fifth-place finish at the NCAA indoor championships, will not be racing.

Rather, they will be training through the Quiller Classic as they get ready for their eagerly anticipated opportunities to turn in some fast sea-level times, said Colorado head coach Sean Carlson, adding that a full squad of up and comers will be racing and that some of CU’s top runners could compete in “off” events.

“Our home meet is a way for alumni and fans to get to know the team,” said Carlson. “We are just hoping for good weather.”

The Quiller Classic features most of the state’s top schools, including Air Force Academy and Colorado State. It is also the track team’s “Senior Day,” with 15 athletes, including Green, to be recognized and honored.

“We wanted to keep the name ‘Jerry Quiller’ on our schedule,” said Malone, explaining that the late Quiller, who coached CU two different times during a long career, is an integral part of Colorado’s track legacy and a model for caring about athletes and giving back to the community. “Whenever there is a hall of fame event (at CU), I hear stories about ‘Q,’” said Malone.

One of those stories, dating back to the early 1970s, centers on how a large group of impecunious post-collegiate runners bunked down in shifts at a Quiller-owned mobile home on Valmont Avenue in Boulder, while they washed dishes at local restaurants and pursued their dreams of making the U.S. Olympic team, just as Green is doing now. Some of those runners, such as Garry Bjorklund, did qualify for the Olympics, while others made World Cross Country squads and other national teams.

Can Green, 23, do the same? Working in her favor is Green’s ability to rise to the occasion and throw her best when needed. That was seen at last year’s Pac 12 Championships at Potts Field, an epic never-to-be repeated gathering of top track and field schools such as Oregon, Stanford, USC and Washington, which have since scattered across the country to other conferences.

On her third and final throw at Pac 12s, Green unleashed a long throw to claim second place. Then, last summer in the U.S. Olympic Trials, Green did it again, throwing two personal bests on her final two throws to end up seventh, a “grace-under-pressure” performance that presages more progress to come. Her final throw of 54.8 meters, roughly 180 feet, was seven meters from making the team.

Also competing at the 2024 Olympic Trials was CU 400-meter hurdler Cole Romig; he reached the semifinals after a good collegiate season that saw him place fourth at the Pac 12 Championships and is one of the seniors being honored at the Quiller Classic.

Abbey Glynn, a former Mead high school three-time state champ and 400 meter hurdler for CU who is also staying in Boulder to train with her coach, Burke Bockman, will be racing, making the 400 hurdles one of the featured events.

The Quiller Classic field events start at 11 a.m. Saturday, followed by the track events at 1 p.m. The javelin throw is set for Friday at 2 p.m. at Potts; Green will be joined, among others, by CU junior Gustavo Alonso and freshman Aliana Fantaski.

“It will be strange to be competing without the CU across my chest,” said Green (@jadagreen._), who is just beginning her sponsorship search. “But I will always be representing CU all day and every day.”

To follow Sandrock on IG: @MikeSandrock