Ruzevic Shines at NCAA National Meet with Ninth Place Finish
Ruzevic Posts Fourth Longest Toss in School History at NCAA National Championships
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Ana Ruzevic Posted a Ninth Place Showing at the NCAA National Championship Meet
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June 12, 2010
Women's Outdoor Top Times (PDF) | NCAA Championships Live Results (HTML)
NEW ORLEANS - As the competition level rose this season, sophomore Ana Ruzevic answered the call at each opportunity, culminating in a ninth place finish at the NCAA National Championships on Saturday (June 12) at Hayward Field on the University of Oregon campus. Ruzevic entered the postseason ranked 67th nationally - 23rd in the East Regional - but improved on nearly every throw of the NCAA Championship season to claim the ninth place finish in Oregon.
"I felt really good going into the meet actually, while I was warming up," said Ruzevic. "The atmosphere. I have never seen anything like that. So many people in the stand and all of them were cheering. I just had a great day and everything kind of came together. There were a lot of people back home watching and following the live results online. I am already really excited about next year and it was just a great finish to the year."
Ruzevic posted a pair of great throws to open the competition with a 48.68-meter toss to start things and followed that with her best toss of the afternoon, a 49.50-meter showing. Both tosses marked season-best performances for the sophomore and landed her in fifth place entering the finals of the event. Her toss stood up as the fifth best toss until a pair of competitors passed her in the fourth round and in the final toss of the day, Ohio State's Maggie Mullen moved ahead of Ruzevic with her last toss.
"Ana came into the meet with a lot of confidence and she had been very impressive in her most recent meets," said Tulane head coach Eric Peterson. "She had been improving at an amazing rate and opened up today with a lifetime best. She came back and threw 49.50 (meters) and I am really proud of the way she has competed, and more importantly in the way she has represented our program. My hope is that this experience is going to be something that will develop into a driving force and help her as she moves forward. She was terrific today."
This season, Ruzevic won four individual titles in the javelin and placed among the top-ten in each competition. She closed the season with personal best throws in her final two meets. The 49.50-meter toss ranks fourth on the all-time list and is a career-best throw for the sophomore. She owns the team's top-ten throws in the javelin this season and moved ahead of Nicholls State's Leslie Bourgeois as the longest toss in the state of Louisiana this season.
"She came to Tulane and was not set on a good path for success at first," said assistant coach Leigh Smith. "This season, she has made up for lost time and is growing physically, emotionally and technically. We are finally seeing the results of that and it is really exciting. I am glad she had a good end to her season and we should see a lot of the same next season."
The All-Louisiana Sports Writers Association awards will be released near the end of the month and Ruzevic is in a position to earn a spot on that squad with her performances over the past few weeks.
