FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- Cody Fillinich didn't meet his own standards Friday night but he still reached uncharted territory in Northwestern State's proud track and field history, earning his fourth outdoor All-America honor in as many seasons at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
With what was for him a subpar 225-1 mark, Fillinich took eighth place in the rain-delayed men's javelin final late Friday night. The top eight finishers in each event at the national meet win All-America honors from the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.
He became the first Northwestern competitor in 32 years of NCAA Division I competition to earn All-America recognition outdoors in each of his four seasons of eligibility. High jumper Brian Brown won six All-America awards for the Demons from 1987-90, but three came indoors, including the 1990 NCAA Indoor championship.
"What a great accomplishment," said 27th-year Demons' head coach Leon Johnson. "Cody started the season after redshirting last year with the goal of being our first-ever four-time outdoor All-American. We've had two Olympians (triple jumpers LaMark Carter and Kenta Bell), a two-time national champion high jumper (Brown) and a national champion relay team (the 1981 4x100 unit of Victor Oatis, Joe Delaney, Mario Johnson and Mark Duper), but even they didn't make All-America four times outdoors. That goal was on his mind for an awfully long time, and he got it done. We couldn't be more proud of him."
Georgia's Chris Hill won at 268-4, followed by Corey White of USC (248-5), Craig Kinsley of Brown (240-6), Oregon's Cyrus Hostetler (238-6), Pontus Thomee of Boise State (233-5), Kyle Nielsen from Washington (231-6), UTEP's Alex VanderMerwe (231-4), and Fillinich.
"I didn't throw as well as I wanted," said Fillinich, "and that's frustrating. I could have been fourth again, or fifth, and maybe I would feel a little better. But I have to admit, sitting here surrounded by my family, I am really happy to be a four-time outdoor All-American.
"Track's not like other sports where it's what you did all year long. You have to throw well to get to the regionals, then you have to be top five there to get to nationals, and then you start all over and nothing you did before matters. It's two days competing against the best throwers in the country and the top eight guys on the last night get All-America," he said.
"I'm just really lucky to be at this point. It's something I couldn't have dreamed of when I left South Lafourche (High School). I have a lot of people, my family, my coaches, my teammates, and good people around Natchitoches and NSU who I want to share this with. It's an individual event but they all were behind me and that made the difference for me."
Just as he did in Wednesday's qualifying round that trimmed the field of 26 qualifiers down to 12 finalists, Fillinich struggled with his approach. He hadn't thrown under 231 feet this spring until the national meet.
In the qualifying round, he advanced with his shortest mark of the year, 218-9, ranking 11 among the 12 qualifiers and getting in by a foot. He entered the meet seeded fifth with a career-best 239-10 throw, and had been over 233 feet in five of his other six competitions.
"Again tonight, his approach just was out of kilter," said NSU throws coach Mike Heimerman. "If he had his normal approach, he's 10-12, maybe 15 feet better. He was releasing way too soon. We'll work on it and iron it out before the USA Championships in a few weeks.
"From a competitive standpoint, the place isn't what he wanted, but from this point forward, Cody's done something nobody else in the history of our program has accomplished, and there aren't too many four-time outdoor All-Americans at any school in any field event," said Heimerman. "He's worked hard and come through every challenge that he's faced like the champion he is."
Fillinich had to rally to get into position to win All-America honors. After three rounds, the field of 12 Friday night was cut to the nine best marks.
Through two rounds, Fillinich was 10th at 218-5, but zipped past Oregon's Alex Wolff with a 220-11 mark on his third throw to earn three more attempts as the ninth and last finalist.
That assured him All-America honors as the top eight American-born finishers also earn the distinction, and two other finalists, VanderMerwe and Thomee, were foreign-born.
But Fillinich was still trying to move up and he did it on his final throw, adding more than four feet with his 225-1 effort to overtake New Mexico senior Anthony Fairbanks at 222-5.
Fillinch has won four of the 48 All-America honors posted by NSU athletes in Johnson's remarkable tenure as the Demons' coach.
It was the 10th time in 12 years that Northwestern had a male or female javelin thrower reach the national meet. All of the athletes have been Louisiana prep products, and four -- Regina Roe, Latrell Frederick, Samantha Ford and Fillinich -- went on to win All-America honors.
Fillinich, a native of Golden Meadow, was fourth at the 2007 NCAA Outdoors, ninth in 2006 and 10th in 2005. The fourth-place finish was the best by a Demon at the national meet since 1993.
At South Lafourche, he was better known as a quarterback on the football team who broke the single-season school passing record set by future NSU and New Orleans Saints star quarterback Bobby Hebert, a Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame member.