Southern Illinois University
NCAA Championships
DeAnna Price Repeats as NCAA Hammer Throw Champion
06/09/2016 | 12:00:00 | Track and Field
By: Will Becque
SIUSalukis.com
EUGENE, Ore. - Southern Illinois senior thrower DeAnna Price struck gold for the second-straight season at the 2016 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, claiming the NCAA hammer throw title with a meet record mark of 234'-08" (71.53m) inside Historic Hayward Field.
The Bowerman Watch List selection led from start to finish, opening with a throw of 223'-06" (68.13m). After fouling on her second attempt, Price rebounded in a big way on her next attempt, breaking her own meet record to notch her 18th throw this season of 230-feet or more with a toss of 234'-08" (71.53m).
"First throw you always get in the circle and take it nice and easy," said Price. "Just get one in there and make the final. Sometimes athlete forgets that. So I got my first throw in around 68m. My second throw was foul at around 73m, but then I got the third throw in at 71m and broke the meet record."
In the finals, Price again surpassed 230-feet, throwing 231'-06" (70.57m) on her fourth throw but was unable to improve upon her meet record.
The now four-time All-American is just the fifth woman in NCAA history to win back-to-back hammer throw championships and is the first to accomplish the feat since Jenny Dahlgren of Georgia won her second-straight title in 2007.
Price also becomes the fourth woman in MVC history to win multiple NCAA outdoor titles, and the third to do so in back-to-back seasons in the same event. It also marks the seventh time, indoors and outdoors, that a woman from the Valley has won consecutive NCAA titles, as Price becomes the first to do so since Indiana State's Kylie Hutson won her fourth, and final, NCAA title in the women's pole vault at the 2010 NCAA Outdoor Championships. In total, MVC women have won 22 NCAA titles dating back to 1993.
The Moscow Mills, Mo. native joins Darrin Plab and Brittany Riley as the only three in school history to repeat as national champs, with both Price and Plab having done so outdoors. Price's title today marks the 19th NCAA individual title for Southern.
Price will now set her sights on the U.S. Olympic Trials, also in Eugene, Ore. from July 1-10.
The two-time national champion could sign with an agent or try and sign with a sponsor. The accounting major at SIU already has her degree, but she chose not to because she wants to wear the Maroon and White again.
"Hopefully I can still wear the Saluki maroon at the U.S. Olympic Trials and represent Southern Illinois University," said Price.
There are no days off for Price as she prepares to try and earn a spot on the 2016 U.S. Women's team for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She said she will be lifting heavy tomorrow, a day after winning her second-straight NCAA title. There's a gym in Eugene that has the equipment she needs to do so. She doesn't plan on relaxing until much later this summer.
"I know I have it in me," said Price of making the Olympic team. "I have the ability. Its hard though, there are a lot of girls who can throw far in the United States. But I want to make this team. I'm not going to stop to breathe or take a break until after the Olympic Trials. I'm going to keep fighting and keep pushing and doing my job, and try my hardest to make the team."
Going into the trials, SIU alumna Gwen Berry has the longest throw by an American after she broke the U.S. Record in May 2016 with a toss of 250'-4" (76.31m). Price's collegiate American record throw of 238'-5" (72.66m) currently ranks third in the nation. Top-3 is also where Price will need to finish to make the U.S. Team come July 6th, when the women's hammer throw qualifying round kicks off at Historic Hayward Field.
Price was joined in competition Thursday by Saluki junior Chrissa Harris. The Carbondale, Ill. native was competing at her first national championship after a breakout 2016 outdoor campaign in which she won her first MVC in 400-meter dash and took 11th at the NCAA West Preliminary Round. Harris had a tough lane assignment racing from the back of the pack in lane one, but still clocked in a respectable time of 54.94. It marked the sixth-straight meet that Harris has run sub-.55 seconds.
Players Mentioned
