An Olympian and NCAA shot put champion, Mariami Kevkhishvili-Machavariani is in her sixth season at USF and works primarily with the throwers.
During this season, Kevkhishvili-Machavariani coached Jason Nwosu to a program record in the indoor shot put with a 17.73m (58’ 2”) throw and a ninth-place all-time ranking in the discus throw.
During the 2024 season, she coached Vincent Ugwoke, who holds the program record in the outdoor discus with a 61.44m (201-7.00) and ranks sixth on the Bulls’ top-10 list in the shot put throw. Antonia Sealy ranked third in the conference for the women’s javelin and also ranks third in USF history with a 46.52m (152-7.00) throw. Jazmyn James placed third on the Bulls’ all-time list in the indoor shot put and fourth in the outdoor discus. Additionally, Kevkhishvili-Machavariani guided Alexandria Hunter to a fifth-place all-time ranking in the indoor weight throw, seventh place in the hammer throw, and eighth place in the outdoor shot put.
In the 2023 season, Alliya Boothe made the Bulls’ all-time list for both indoor and outdoor events. She secured a ninth-place ranking in the indoor shot put in 2022 while also achieving a sixth-place ranking in the weight throw, a ninth-place ranking in the hammer throw, and a 10th-place finish in the shot put during the 2023 outdoor season.
The 2021 season saw Kevkhishvili-Machavariani coaching Eron Carter, who broke the hammer throw program record three times, reaching a mark of 61.39m (201-5). Carter also competed in the NCAA East Regional competitions for the hammer throw and discus. Additionally, Johann Jeremiah set a program record in the outdoor shot put with a 17.39m (57-1.00) throw under her guidance.
During the 2017-18 season as a member of the University of Connecticut coaching staff, Kevkhishvili-Machavariani coached sophomore Divine Oladipo to All-America status in the shot put. Oladipo finished 12th overall (16.55m (54-3¾)) at the 2018 Outdoor NCAA Championships and was tabbed a second-team All-American. The sophomore also claimed Honorable Mention accolades in the discus after finishing 18th in the event. Oladipo concluded her stellar sophomore campaign by being named the 2018 Northeast Region Field Track Athlete of the Year on her way to rewriting the UConn record book in the shot put with a throw of 17.37m (57-0).
Prior to her time with the Huskies, Kevkhishvili-Machavariani was an assistant coach at the University of Mississippi, where she helped Ole Miss athletes produce some of the best marks in school history. Dempsey McGuigan set the school record in the hammer throw with a mark of 219-6 and was the 2015 SEC runner-up. Nathan Loe had the second-best mark in school history in the hammer throw (210-3), while Kevin Conway qualified for the NCAA Regionals in both the hammer throw (201-0) and weight throw (63-2). During the indoor season, Onyi Afoaku moved up to No. 2 in school history in both the shot put (57-9.75) and weight throw (63-2).
Kevkhishvili-Machavariani brings an extraordinary competitive resume with her to USF. She competed in the shot put at the 2004 Athens Olympics and the 2008 Beijing Olympics for her native country of Georgia, and she was a five-time national champion in the shot put while at the University of Florida.
Kevkhishvili-Machavariani graduated from Florida in 2011 with a bachelor’s degree in sociology. During her time in Gainesville, she became just the second athlete in NCAA history to claim five women’s shot put national championships (indoors and outdoors combined) and the second woman to claim both the NCAA indoor and outdoor women’s shot put titles in back-to-back seasons.
She did not lose a competition to a collegiate competitor (indoors or outdoors) in her final two seasons. She finished her Florida career as the school record holder in the indoor shot (61-0) and the SEC championship shot put record holder for both indoor (59-4.25) and outdoor (59-2.75). In addition to her five NCAA titles (2008 indoor, 2009 indoor, 2009 outdoor, 2010 indoor, 2010 outdoor), she was a five-time SEC champion, the 2009 SEC Indoor Field Athlete of the Year, and the 2010 SEC Outdoor Field Athlete of the Year.
She helped lead the Gator women to the 2009 SEC outdoor title and 2010 SEC indoor title, as well as a third-place finish at the 2010 NCAA Outdoor Championships and a fourth-place result at the 2010 NCAA Indoor Championships.
A native of Tbilisi, Georgia, Kevkhishvili-Machavariani represented her country as an 18-year-old at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, and then again in 2008 in Beijing, China. She has also competed at the 2009 World Championships and 2010 and 2013 European Championships.
She is married to Daviti (Dato) Machavariani, and the couple has a daughter, Tekla Machavariani, and a son, Luka.
