Hammer throw action at the NCAA Championships start on Thursday with the women's hammer throw. Top seeded Amanda Bingson (UNLV) looked to battle it out with Jeneva McCall (Southern Illinois). NCAA indoor champion McCall had just one loss to a college athlete this year, but that came two weeks ago at the NCAA qualifying round where Bingson launched a huge personal best to beat McCall. But it was Brittany Smith (Illinois State) who stole the show early. Smith, throwing in the first of two flights, launched a three personal bests in the first three rounds to put the pressure on Bingson and McCall, who both were in the second flight. However, McCall was able to better Smith by less than an inch on her first throw. When the two flights were cut down to finals, McCall improved another her lead to seven inches, and Smith was unable to respond, perhaps due to the extended break she had to take between the first fligth and finals. NCAA leader Bingson fouled her first two throws before tossing 66.96m to qualify for the finals. However in the finals she had two more throws and had to settle for third place.

Sophomore Jenny Ozorai (USC) took fourth and Ida Storm (UCLA) took second with the second best result of her career (she threw a personal best of 66.48m last Saturday). Alena Krechyz (Kansas), who had the third seed after setting a big personal best at the Big 12 Championships last month, finished in sixth, just ahead of former NCAA champion Nikola Lomnicka (Georgia). The action continues on Friday with the men's hammer throw competition. A late withdrawal was NCAA leader Conor McCullough (Princeton) after it was announced earlier in the week by the Princeton Athletic Department that he did not meet certain academic requirements of the University and the NCAA. Without McCullough, the field will be quite open.

                         NCAA Division I 2012 Outdoor                          
                          Track & Field Championships                          
                          Drake University  - 6/7/2012    

Event 39  Women Hammer Throw
==========================================================================================
 Two flights. Random draw
 30 minute flight specific warm-up. 20 min max before finals
 Advance best 9 after tie breaking to finals. Reverse order
    American: A 73.87m  6/25/2005   Erin Gilreath, NYAC                        
College Best: C 72.94m  4/13/2007   Jenny Dahlberg, Georgia                    
   NCAA Meet: M 70.72m  6/8/2007    Jenny Dahlgren, Georgia                    
    Name                    Year School                  Seed     Finals            Points
==========================================================================================
  1 Jeneva McCall             SR So. Illinois          69.13m     68.67m     225-03  10   
      68.47m  67.86m  66.99m  68.67m  68.25m  FOUL
  2 Brittany Smith            JR Illinois State        66.19m     68.45m     224-07   8   
      67.31m  67.54m  68.45m  66.26m  65.43m  FOUL
  3 Amanda Bingson            SR UNLV                  71.04m     66.96m     219-08   6   
      FOUL  FOUL  66.96m  FOUL  63.80m  FOUL
  4 Jenny Ozorai              SO USC                   66.61m     65.91m     216-03   5   
      63.86m  65.20m  63.69m  64.40m  65.91m  65.54m
  5 Ida Storm                 SO UCLA                  65.47m     65.68m     215-06   4   
      FOUL  64.11m  65.68m  FOUL  63.19m  63.37m
  6 Alena Krechyk             JR Kansas                68.23m     64.58m     211-10   3   
      FOUL  64.58m  64.47m  64.24m  FOUL  63.97m
  7 Nikola Lomnicka           SR Georgia               64.28m     64.55m     211-09   2   
      60.34m  FOUL  62.49m  FOUL  61.71m  64.55m
  8 Marissa Minderler         SR USC                   64.04m     63.43m     208-01   1   
      FOUL  62.26m  FOUL  63.43m  63.37m  FOUL
  9 Favian Cowards            SR Miss State            62.93m     62.87m     206-03
      61.40m  62.87m  61.03m  59.62m  59.41m  FOUL
 10 DeAnna Price              FR So. Illinois          62.62m     62.25m     204-03
 11 Taylor Bush               JR Arizona               62.93m     61.81m     202-09
 12 Melissa Kurzdorfer        SO Penn State            63.35m     60.84m     199-07
 13 Brieanna Kennedy          SR LSU                   60.40m     60.13m     197-03
 14 Maureen Laffan            SR Virginia              58.03m     59.91m     196-07  
 15 Victoria Flowers          JR Connecticut           60.33m     58.99m     193-06
 16 Melinda Bendik            SR Liberty               61.76m     58.71m     192-07
 17 Latifah Johnson           SR So. Alabama           61.32m     58.71m     192-07
 18 Alexis Thomas             SO Ohio State            60.43m     58.27m     191-02
 19 Amanda Murphy             SR Montana State         62.20m     58.08m     190-07
 20 Kearsten Peoples          FR Missouri              62.38m     57.64m     189-01
 21 Jade Niemeyer             SR USC                   63.40m     57.47m     188-06
 22 Maggie Mullen             SR Ohio State            57.91m     57.01m     187-00
 23 Beth Rohl                 JR Michigan State        60.41m     56.33m     184-10
 -- Jackie Leppelmeier        FR Kent State            59.53m       FOUL