GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Northwestern State junior Trecey Rew needed to nail her final throw to reach the national championships in the discus, and she made the most of it, going from 13th place to regional champion Saturday evening at the NCAA East Preliminary regional championships.
After entering the competition Saturday as the No. 6 seed, Rew was stuck outside looking in entering the sixth and final round of throws, with the top 12 finishers advancing to the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in two weeks. The junior from Garland, Texas, responded by breaking her own school record with a 179-0 mark on her final attempt, topping a toss of 176-8 two weeks earlier and sailing almost 18 feet by her previous-best throw in Saturday's competition, 161-1. The clutch performance allowed her to overtake Emily Pendleton of Michigan, who wound up third at 178-9. "Soon as I let it go, I thought, that should save me. That should get me to nationals," said Rew. "I didn't know it would win." Rew withstood a 178-11 mark later in the final series by Ashley Muffett of Kentucky. LSU's Samia Stokes finished fifth at 177-11. Neither of NSU's other two entries advanced Saturday. The Demons' 4x400 meter relay team and the Lady Demons 4x100 relay squad didn't finish in the top 12 of their races. Rew qualified Thursday for the national meet in the shot put as the sixth-place regional finisher. Rew and Kentucky's Muffett were the only two East region athletes to qualify for nationals in both events, while five of the 12 West region qualifiers did. Rew did it in dramatic fashion in both events. She fouled on her first two attempts in the shot put on Thursday and again in the discus Saturday, facing not advancing to the final series of three throws unless she produced a good enough mark on her third attempt. Her last chance in the shot prelims two days earlier resulted in a 53-6 1/2 throw that appeared to be, and was, far enough to send her to the national meet, even though she didn't better it in the final three throws. While her round three mark Saturday in the discus did advance her to the final round for three more throws, it ranked 11th among the 16 finalists. She had slipped two spots to 13th after fouling on her fourth throw and getting a 149-11 mark in round five. "My gosh, I don't know what's happening with that. I suppose I wanted to save everything for my third throws," said Rew. "Today I made the final by a hair, and going into the third throw in the finals, I was 13th, and I was so bad in my technique. I got fired up and said, 'I'm not going to be one spot away from making nationals, I'm going to send one out there,' and I did. " 'There's no way' is my first reaction. I'm really still trying to take it all in. I came here just wanting to get to my first national meet, hopefully in both events. Winning the regional championship is great, but I'm more proud of getting to nationals in both," she said. Lady Demon throws coach Mike Heimerman was excited and relieved. "She almost stressed me out. The first two throws were foot fouls. Throw No. 3 was a safety throw but it snuck her in as a finals qualifier. Throws four and five were not pretty. Trecey knew she was 13th going into final throw and she took care of business," he said. "It's a good mark and gives her a little more confidence going to nationals, where she can legitimately battle for a national championship in both events. In the discus, she's got another 10-15 feet in her with excellent technique, and in the shot, she already has thrown 59-feet plus in warm-ups and practice, and that could win. But right now, getting to the national meet is what we were here to do and I could not be more proud of her." She became the first NSU athlete to win an NCAA regional title since men's javelin thrower Latrell Frederick set a regional record on the way to winning his second All-America honor in 2000. The top eight finishers overall, and the top eight American-born finishers, earn All-America at the national championships. In the regional's final event, the Demons' 4x400 relay team ran 3:08.69 after being seeded ninth with its season-best 3:07.06, but an injury last month resulted in a change in the lineup and NSU couldn't match that time Saturday. NSU was fourth in its heat, won in 3:04.10 by LSU, while Louisiana Tech was fifth at 3:09.80. The 12th and final national qualifying time was 3:08.26 by Georgia, with LSU's time ranking fourth. The Lady Demons 4x100 team ran a 46.27 and were 22nd among the 24 regional entries.