Photo courtesy Bryan C. Wayne
DES MOINES, Iowa -- Winning on her final throw of the competition, Northwestern State senior Trecey Rew claimed the women's discus title Wednesday afternoon at the 2011 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, giving NSU its third NCAA national championship in the sport.
Rew fired a career-best throw of 192-4 to surge from fourth to first on the next-to-last toss in the competition. After she took the lead, she had to withstand the final try by the previous leader, Anna Jelmini of Arizona State, who bettered her previous mark of 189-0 with a 190-2 throw that was not enough to overtake Rew.
Rew's national title goes alongside two more for Northwestern, the 1990 NCAA Indoor high jump crown won with a 7-8 1/2 leap by Brian Brown, and the fabled 1981 national championship in the 4x100 meter relay in 39.32 by Victor Oatis, Joe Delaney, Mario Johnson and Mark Duper.
It is the fourth NCAA women's outdoor crown in Southland Conference history and the first since 1995.
Wednesday evening, the Demons' 4x100 meter relay team could not advance to Saturday's eight-team final despite running a 39.88 time. The NSU foursome of freshman Raymond Hatton, sophomore Adam Smith, sophomore Kendal Taylor and sophomore Justin Walker -- the youngest squad among the 24 national championship qualifiers -- finished 18th, as Texas at 32.23 was the eighth and final team to advance and Texas A&M (38.38) led the way.
The performance did earn the team, including alternate Karllis Perry, honorable mention All-America honors.
Rew -- also an Academic All-America finalist with a perfect 4.0 grade point average a year into graduate school, after earning her undergraduate degree in broadcast journalism last May with a 3.86 GPA -- had the three best throws of her career Wednesday, saving the best for last. On that one, she threw exactly 12 feet past her previous personal best entering the competition.
"I knew it was the last throw of my collegiate career and I just had to put a finish on it. And it just worked out for me," she said. "I just stayed calm and I worked on my technique like I've been doing. But I just added a little aggression to it and it paid off."
After the qualifying round of three throws, she ranked second with a new school record, 181-5, on her second attempt. That improved her two-week-old NSU mark of 180-4, and gave her confidence heading into what proved to be a dramatic finish.
"That was always the plan to be very technical first and go ahead and secure marks. I came out and executed exactly how my coach (Mike Heimerman) wanted me to in the prelims," said Rew. "Thank goodness something happened for me in the finals because so many of the girls made huge jumps. The atmosphere for competition was really great and I think that's really what gave me the motivation to keep trying."
The field was whittled from 24 down to nine finalists for the last three throws. Rew dipped a spot to third when Tennessee's Annie Alexander unleashed a 188-9 throw to replace Jelmini's 187-4 as the leader after round four.
In the fifth round, Rew hit another big throw, going 186-2, but it didn't move her up in the standings although Jelmini regained the lead by throwing 189-0. Again, Rew slipped in the standings early in the sixth and final round, when SMU's Simone du Toit edged past by three inches for third place, recording a 186-5 mark.
Stepping into the discus ring for the final time, Rew uncorked the throw of the day, flying by Jelmini's leading mark by over three feet.
Jelmini, a freshman, nearly replied in kind on the last attempt of the competition. She threw 190-2.
"Then I became the biggest cheerleader in the stadium," said Heimerman. "It got pretty boisterous. Our goal was to win a national championship. We knew Trecey could do it, that she had those big throws within her. Today she had the best series of her life. Right time, right place, NCAA champ."
Rew had clinched first-team All-America honors by advancing to the final, her second All-America accolodates to go with those she earned with a ninth-place finish last year in the shot put. The Garland, Texas, native will enter Saturday's shot put competition as the ninth seed with her 54-8 season's best. She holds the school record at 54-11 1/2 in 2010.
Thursday, Lady Demon freshman Jessica Talley throws the javelin at 3:05. She has a 158-6 best that ranks her 16th in the 24-woman field. The top 16 finishers earn All-America status.
Rew raised to 62 the number of NCAA Division I All-America awards won by Northwestern competitors. The previous best NCAA finish by a Lady Demon athlete was second by four-time All-America long jumper Stephanie Sowell as a senior in 2004.
In the 4x100 qualifying, the Demons were forced to run with a different third leg competitor for the third time in a month. Michael Green was not eligible for postseason, then Karllis Perry stepped in for the Southland Conference Championships and the NCAA East regional meet. NSU won the SLC title and ran 40.11 at regionals to be one of the top 24 teams advancing to the national championships.
"I'm pleased we ran as well as we did, and we thought we could do a little better. Karliss got hurt in our last workout back home, and so we ran Kendal for first time in competition. A change at that stage tests your ability to handle exchanges smoothly," said Johnson. "We got the baton around and ran a very good time in a very, very fast race overall. There were a lot of great times.
"Everyone on our team ran well, and we have no complaints about our performance. It's something we can build on and look forward to next year, hoping to stay healthy. It's a great compliment for the kids that they performed as well as they did with three different 4x1 combinations in the last month," said Johnson. "It's definitely been a team effort."
Earning honorable mention All-America honors is a fitting tribute for a team with an intriguing future, he said.
"When you pare down the field from the 100 regional qualifying teams, to the 24 that earned their way here, it's impressive. For having two freshmen and three sophomores, we've done quite well," he said. "We'll get better. I think this group can run in the low 39s (NSU's school record is 39.03), even the high 38s, if we have a good training year and stay healthy."
