NATCHITOCHES — Two Northwestern State school records fell Saturday, along with a pair of Walter Ledet Track and Field Complex marks tumbling as 13 NCAA Regional qualifying performances were posted in the NSU NCAA Qualifiers meet.
Sophomore Trecey Rew shattered her own Lady Demon discus record with a 163-1 throw that topped the old mark by 10 nearly feet. The SLC discus champion flew past the NCAA Mideast Regional qualifying standard by almost six feet while winning.
Junior Daniel Yarbrough made what could have been his last throw of the year count in the men’s hammer, recording a 186-5 mark that broke his own school mark by three feet while topping the NCAA standard by an inch. That earned him second Saturday behind McNeese’s Freddie Hannie, who improved his regional ranking by nearly four feet with a winning 193-3 throw.
The third Northwestern athlete to earn an NCAA regional invitation Saturday was senior javelin thrower Samuel Norton, who soared 10 feet past his 2008 best and nearly matched his career best with a winning 207-10 mark.
The most impressive performance of the day came by two unattached athletes, pole vaulter Russ Buller and former Lady Demon All-America javelin star Samantha Ford, who broke Ledet Complex records.
Ford recorded the USA’s eighth-best throw so far, 175-10, passing her own complex mark of 170-3 set in April. The Shreveport resident and Moss Bluff native was a 2003 NCAA All-American for Northwestern.
Buller, the 2006 USA champion and 2000 NCAA champion from LSU, broke the oldest Ledet Complex record with an 18-4 1/2 clearance, missing three times at 18-9 1/4. In his first extensive competition of the year, the Westlake native erased the 1976 complex mark of 16-8 1/2 by NSU’s John Barrier and posted the nation’s 10th-best outdoor clearance this spring. He was fifth at the 2006 World Cup and eighth in the 2004 Olympic Trials.
Lawrence Willis, a Lafayette native and Louisiana-Lafayette alumnus who was the 2007 USA runner-up in the triple jump, won his specialty in 53-5 3/4, well back of the Ledet Complex record by 2004 Olympian and three-time NSU All-American Kenta Bell (56-6 3/4).
While Norton, Rew and Yarbrough made the most of their last chance, so did two other athletes who posted NCAA Regional qualifying marks Saturday for the first time this year. Sam Houston State’s Jon Tipton improved by nearly five feet with a 178-2 discus throw, good for third behind two unattached athletes. Louisiana-Monroe javelin thrower Tommy Tumey bettered his previous mark by nearly eight feet and earned an NCAA invitation with a 205-4 throw.
Among the eight other marks bettering the NCAA standards Saturday, two reflected improvements over previous qualifying performances. Sam Houston State’s 4x400 meter relay team shaved half a second off its fastest time, clocking 3:09.41 to win. McNeese’s Hannie also upped his regional ranking.
Also topping NCAA standards but not improving their 2008 bests were Southern’s Earldreka White winning the triple jump (40-7), Louisiana-Monroe’s Heather Davis taking the women’s high jump (5-8 3/4), Joy Egboba-Waye of Stephen F. Austin winning the women’s 100 meter hurdles (14.05), SFA’s Zach Ross (14.11) and Southeastern Louisiana’s Avery Sorapuru (14.27) in the men’s 110 meter hurdles, and SFA’s Katrina Roundtree in the women’s 400 meter dash (54.51).
Posting a USA Junior Olympic qualifying mark with the 12-pound shot put was Jacob Domingue of McNeese State, throwing 60-6 3/4.
The NCAA regional meets are in two weeks, with NSU sending nine entries and 10 athletes to the Mideast Regional at Fayetteville, Ark. -- Rew in the women’s shot put and discus, Chad Leath in the 400 meter hurdles and the 110 meter hurdles, the Demons’ 4x400 relay team, Jessica Tuck in the women’s long jump, Dawn Comeaux in the women’s javelin, along with Yarbrough in the men’s hammer and Norton in the men’s javelin.