EUGENE, Ore. -- Even after earning All-America honors Friday night in the women's shot put at the NCAA Track and Field Championships, Northwestern State junior Trecey Rew wasn't satisfied.
The junior from Garland, Texas, finished tied for ninth with a 53-1½ mark. The top eight finishers, and the top eight American-born finishers, in each event at the NCAA meet earn All-America honors from the USA Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. Three competitors ahead of Rew were foreigners, including NCAA champion Mariam Kevhishvili of Florida.
Rew made it seven of the last eight years that Northwestern has brought home at least one All-America honor from the NCAA meet. Five have come in the throws under the direction of Mike Heimerman, the throws coach for the NSU men and women and the Lady Demons' head coach.
It was bittersweet for Rew, who had fouls on her first and third attempts and did not advance among the top nine to the final round of three throws. She tied for ninth with Keely Medeiros of Florida, whose 53-1 1/2 mark came on her first throw, but Medeiros moved into the finals because she had only one foul among her three preliminary attempts Friday evening.
Rew's first throw was a monster, landing in the 56-foot range, which ultimately would have placed her second or third behind the winning 59-5 toss by Florida's Kevkhishvili. But Rew was flagged for a undisclosed foul and the throw was not measured.
"It was a miniscule foul. I didn't see it, she didn't know she had fouled, she finished in the ring and it looked like a legal attempt," said Lady Demon coach Mike Heimerman. "But she must have brushed something because they called a foul. It was a big throw and as it turned out would have had her on the medal stand.
"She's an All-American, and that's awesome. That doesn't get handed to you. A lot of work went into getting to this point and I'm so proud of her," he said. "But the competitor that she is, she's pretty upset. Trecey was millimeters from being second or third in the shot, and going back to Wednesday, she was inches away from winning a national championship in her first national meet."
In Wednesday's discus competition, Rew's first throw flew an estimated 190 feet, according to several coaches watching the attempt. But she rotated out of her throw and committed a foot foul at the front of the ring, an uncharacteristic blunder for her, something she had not done all season, said Heimerman.
"Our plan coming in was to be in attack mode, and she carried it out. She was aggressive. She hit two huge throws right off the bat in each competition, and in the discus, we know what happened. We'll never understand what was called a foul in the shot, and we're not disputing the call, but the point is, she was an eyelash away from being second or third in the nation in that event and she was a few inches from winning the discus," he said.
NSU has claimed five previous women's All-America honors, four by Stephanie Sowell in the long and triple jump in 2003-04 indoors and outdoors, and the fifth in 2003 by Samantha Ford in the javelin. Sowell provided the highest national finish by a Lady Demons with her runner-up showing in the 2004 long jump.
NSU athletes have won 61 NCAA Division I All-America track and field awards, including four-time All-American Cody Fillinich wrapping up his career in the javelin last year with an eighth-place finish. Heimerman seen four throwers (Rew, Ford, Fillinich and Latrell Frederick) win eight All-America honors since 2000.
Rew's All-America honor is the 49th claimed by Northwestern competitors in the 28 years Leon Johnson has been associated with the NSU program. Johnson, head coach of the Demons, has also served as head women's coach and was in that position when Rew signed with NSU.
Rew was the Outstanding Field Performer and the High Point Scorer for women at last month's Southland Conference Outdoor Championships, where she swept the shot put and discus crowns and was third in the hammer throw.
With a 3.86 grade point average in journalism, Rew was among five Southland Conference student-athletes voted to the Academic All-District VI team announced last week.
