Still a teenager, Kohana Nakato already has a pair of national javelin titles.

Yet the former Summit High track and field athlete could not help but be starstruck as she stood near seven-time Olympic gold medalist Allyson Felix and world-record shot putter Ryan Crouser last month during the USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene.

And as much as she thought about meeting her idols and some of the best athletes the sport has ever seen, Nakato realized it was best to keep her fandom tempered and let them do their thing.

“I was over there fan-girling,” Nakato said. “Prepping with the best athletes in the world is just amazing. There are moments that you have to recognize that this is their job, and you can’t get in their way.”

Nakato wasn’t there as a spectator, though. She was on the job as well.

The University of Oregon track and field athlete had just concluded her freshman year and was competing as a javelin thrower at the USATF U20 meet.

Her rise to becoming one of the nation’s top young javelin throwers, and ”Olympic candidate,” according to Summit track coach Dave Turnbull, started when she randomly threw a baseball during a track practice.

In Eugene, she won the U20 national title, a year after claiming the high school national title in the same event.

Throughout the recent competition, Nakato got stronger with each throw. Her first throw was 130 feet and 2 inches, followed by 136-7 in her second throw. She made a jump to 156-3 on her third throw, moving her from seventh to second place behind Saydi Orange of the Tahoma Track Club.

Then on her fifth throw, she eclipsed Orange for the title, beating her by 18 inches.

“I felt pretty good with the throw,” Nakato said. “I stayed consistent throughout the entire year, trusted my training and coaches and it all worked out.”

Nakato started her collegiate career with a third-place finish in the Pac-12 Championships at Hayward Field, then just missed the cut to advance to the NCAA Outdoor Championships when she finished 13th at the NCAA West Preliminary meet at the University of Arkansas.

“I’m grateful for my high school program because they helped prepare me,” Nakato said. “I fully enjoyed that first year (at Oregon). I’m excited for the years to come.”

Nakato has a chance to represent the United States at the World U20 Championships in Cali, Colombia, the first week of August. However, she still needs to meet the qualifying mark of 50 meters (164 feet and 4 inches) to make the team.

She has cleared the mark before. The throw of 169-1 that won her the high school javelin national title last year would have been far enough to qualify, but it did not happen within the time frame to qualify for the World Championships.

On July 7, she will compete in the OTC All Comers Meet in Springfield and have one final chance to qualify for the World Championships.

“I’m never going to stand still,” Nakato said. “I’m going to compete at whatever level it is. I want to compete to the best of my ability no matter what.”