NATCHITOCHES – Northwestern State freshman Trecey Rew will head to the Finish Line USA Junior Track and Field Championships next week hoping to qualify to compete on the national team Pan American Junior Games this summer in Brazil.
Rew, from Garland, Texas, will throw the shot put next Thursday afternoon (2:30 EDT) and competes in the discus on Friday afternoon (1:30 EDT) at Indianapolis, while the USA Championships are contested at the same site. Athletes who are not yet 20 years old in 2007 can qualify for the junior nationals by reaching performance standards in their events.
She is sixth-ranked in the shot put with a 48-1 3/4 mark, where the NSU school record is 49-7 3/4 by Tabitha Johnigan in 1998. In the discus, she ranks 11th in the USA Juniors field with her season's best 151-10 that broke Johnigan’s eight-year-old school record of 151-1.
Rew is bidding to become NSU's third USA Juniors event champion, joining Latrell Frederick (2000 men's javelin) and Robert Etheridge (1999 men's long jump).
While her best chance for a high finish in her first national meet should be in the shot put, NSU throws coach Mike Heimerman believes Rew may ultimately become better in the discus, a relatively new event for her.
“She wasn't a discus thrower in high school so she's still learning, but that may turn out to be her best event. She can throw far right now and she'll improve,” he said. “Looking at the competition and how she is throwing the shot right now, that seems to be her best chance at nationals.”
Rew finished her freshman year at NSU with high-pressure competitions at the Southland Conference Championships and the NCAA Mid-East Regional Championships, experience that should benefit her in Indianapolis, said her coach.
"She's really practicing well this week," said Heimerman. "At the meets recently she's been set up to throw far, but it's been hit or miss and she’s fouled on some throws that would have measured well. A lot of that big-meet experience will begin to pay off for her and I think it will happen next week.
"Right now, she's throwing the shot farther than she ever has," he said. "I think she's got a great chance to finish in the top two and make the USA Junior team for the Pan Am Games this summer in Brazil. A secondary goal is to break the school record in the shot put, since she already got the discus record by nine inches at LSU.”
