EUGENE, Ore. — Ole Miss senior Janeah Stewart won the hammer throw with a mark of 72.92 meters (239 feet, 3 inches) Thursday on the second day of the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at the University of Oregon’s Hayward Field.
Stewart won the event with a 15-foot career-best on her second attempt.
Stewart, who already is a four-time first-team All-American, became the fourth-best collegian all-time in the event with the 10th-best throw ever recorded. The throw demolished her previous school record of 68.36m (224-3), which was a new personal best that punched her ticket to Eugene and won her the East Region title two weeks ago.
“I just told myself, ‘Do what you do in practice, and just have a nice, easy throw,’ and it came out to be my best throw that was good enough to win the meet,” Stewart said.
Despite breaking her school record on her first (68.72m/225-5), second (72.92/239-3) and third (71.12/233-4) attempts, Stewart still had to battle Northern Arizona’s Brooke Andersen, who entered with the top PR in the field at 74.20m (243-5). Andersen responded to Stewart’s second attempt with her third-round throw of 72.87m (239-1), which set up a stressful final but fell just two inches shy of Stewart by competition’s end.
“If you would have told me three, even two years ago that I would throw 72, almost 73 meters, I would have told you that you’re lying to my face,” Stewart said. “It’s amazing I’ve accomplished this much so far.”
Stewart is the third Rebel woman to win a NCAA title, the fifth Ole Miss women’s national title after Olympians Brittney Reese (2008 indoor long jump, 2008 outdoor long jump) and Raven Saunders (2016 outdoor shot put, 2017 indoor shot put) won two titles apiece during their Rebel careers.
Stewart competed in the shot put later in the day. She moved from 10th to third on her final prelim throw at 17.34m (56-10 3/4). That throw wound up as her best on the day and was good for fifth. The mark helped her earn All-America honors for the second-consecutive season and her sixth career first-team All-America award.
Stewart scored 14 points to move the No. 25 Ole Miss women into a tie with No. 1 Georgia following the first day of women’s competition. Stewart gave Ole Miss its most women’s points at the outdoor national meet (tied with the 2008 team’s 14 points).
Ole Miss also had a handful of other competitors earn second-team All-America status. The women’s 4×100 relay of Nicole Henderson, Jeanette Paul, Jolie Carbo, and Shannon Ray finished 15th (44.48 seconds).
Senior Shelby Brown concluded her outdoor career with a 15th-place finish in the women’s 3,000 steeplechase (10:02.16) finals for second-team All-American honors. Brown still has an indoor season of eligibility remaining.
Redshirt junior Lindsey Murray tied for 16th in the pole vault (4.15m, 13-7 1/4) to earn second-team All-America status. Murray has no more indoor eligibility remaining, but she does have one final outdoor year left.
Mississippi State women see season end
Senior Rhianwedd Price-Weimer ended her Mississippi State career Thursday with a 22nd-place finish (4 minutes, 21.72 seconds) in the semifinals of the 1,500.
Price-Weimer won the national championship in the event in 2015.
“It’s just a lot of regret during that race,” Price-Weimer said. “I tried to give it my all, but it just wasn’t my day today. I don’t know what was wrong, but I just didn’t feel the way I usually do. From the gun, I just couldn’t seem to go with them.”
The Llandrindod, Wales, native had only run over 4:20 twice in her career before today’s race. Her heat went out quickly and was stocked with seven of the top eight women in the nation this season.
“I knew the field I was going up against was super hard and tough people,” she said. “I wish them all luck for the finals. They are great athletes.”
The 4×400 relay team of Alon Lewis, Monica Mosley, Riley White, and Keturah Smith placed 22nd (3:40.48).
“I’m so incredibly proud of them,” relays coach Chris Woods said. “On paper, we weren’t supposed to be here. We weren’t supposed to score at the conference meet, weren’t supposed to make it to regionals, weren’t supposed to make it here, and they finished 22nd in the country. I’ve never been more proud of one of our women’s groups.”
The quartet posted the second- and fourth-fastest times in school history this season.
Alabama’s Warren posts second top-10 shot put finish in school history
Alabama junior Portious Warren posted Alabama’s first top-10 finish in the shot put in 26 years with a ninth-place mark of 16.92m/55-6 ¼ Thursday at the NCAA Championships.
Warren joins former Alabama All-American Hanna Glyfadottir as the second women’s top-10 NCAA finisher in the event in school history. Glyfadottir finished seventh at the 1992 NCAA Championships in Austin, Texas. Warren’s mark is the sixth-best in school history.
“I had no idea I’m only the second to finish in the top-10 (for Alabama),” Warren said. “I’m grateful for that. My practices leading up to today have been really great, but I didn’t perform as well as I’d hoped I would. This experience will help me going into the discus on Saturday.”
In the track semifinals, Alabama’s 4×100 relay quartet of freshmen Daija Lampkin and Tamara Clark and sophomores Symone Darius and Takyera Roberson finished eighth and advanced to Saturday’s final with a time of 43.35.
Clark also competed in the semifinals of the 100 (11.50) and 200 (23.28) and finished seventh in her heat in both events.
Senior Britainy Smith tied for 18th in the women’s pole vault with a clearance of 13-1 ½ (4.00m).
“It wasn’t the day we were looking for but I’m proud of the way we competed,” Alabama coach Dan Waters said. “We had a lot of young athletes who got their first look at what it’s like to run in the outdoor championships. It’s a different environment than any other meet we run in and I think we learned some things today that will help us on Saturday and beyond. While I know she was pointing towards a better finish, I’m really proud of the job Portious Warren did today. She battled to get to the finals and ended up with one of the best finishes we’ve had in the shot put.”
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