All-Americans Fillinich, Woolery Finish Among Nation?s Elite at NCAA Championships

6/15/2009 3:45:00 PM

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. ? Northwestern State senior Cody Fillinich and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi senior Hickel Woolery joined Texas State senior Kemul Morales as outdoor All-Americans this weekend as the track and field season drew to a close at the 2009 NCAA Division I Outdoor Championships Saturday at John McDonnell Track and Field on the campus of the University of Arkansas.

Fillinich, who became Northwestern State’s first and the Southland Conference’s second (Tom Hill, Arkansas State, 1968-70, 72) four-time outdoor track and field All-American in the same event, threw himself into the Demons’ record book with his final heave in the men’s javelin on Friday. The senior entered his final attempt in ninth place, but surpassed New Mexico’s Anthony Fairbanks with a throw of 225-feet, 1-inch (68.61 meters) to jump into eighth and score a point for the Demons in the overall team standings. At a minimum the top-eight finishers in each event at the national championships are declared All-Americans.

“What a great accomplishment," Demons' head coach Leon Johnson said. "Cody started the season after redshirting last year with the goal of being our first-ever four-time outdoor All-American. We've had two Olympians (triple jumpers LaMark Carter and Kenta Bell), a two-time national champion high jumper (Brown) and a national champion relay team (the 1981 400 relay team), but even they didn't make All-America four times outdoors. That goal was on his mind for an awfully long time, and he got it done. We couldn't be more proud of him."

Fillinich, a native of Golden Meadow, La., finished 10th in the javelin in 2005, ninth in 2006 and 10th in 2007 before redshirting in 2008 and placing eighth in 2009.

"Track's not like other sports where it's what you did all year long. You have to throw well to get to the regionals, then you have to be top five there to get to nationals, and then you start all over and nothing you did before matters,” Fillinich said after completing his record-setting feat.

“It’s two days competing against the best throwers in the country and the top-eight guys on the last night get All-America,” the four-time javelin All-American added. “I'm just really lucky to be at this point. It's something I couldn't have dreamed of when I left South Lafourche (High School). I have a lot of people, my family, my coaches, my teammates, and good people around Natchitoches and [Northwestern State] who I want to share this with. It's an individual event, but they all were behind me and that made the difference for me."

Woolery, one of two Southland qualifiers into Saturday’s men’s discus final, became just the second student-athlete in the Islanders’ history to score at the national meet ? Shadrack Songok won the national championship in the 10,000 in 2007-08 ? when he tallied a pair of points with a seventh-place finish in the men’s discus. The Islanders' senior and Southeastern Louisiana junior Adonson Shallow tallied top-12 marks in the preliminary round on Thursday to qualify for the final.

Woolery opened the competition with a solid throw that all but assured him a spot in the top-nine, which guaranteed him an additional three attempts following the completion of the initial three. On his second attempt, the Westmoreland, Jamaica, native tallied what would be his best mark of the event with a throw of 184-4 (56.19m), placing him sixth overall after two throws and seventh after three.

“Getting a good first throw in helped me,” Woolery said. “I knew with that throw I would be in the top-nine and get three more throws.”

Meanwhile, Shallow fouled on his first two attempts and on his third was able to manage only the 11th-best mark, leaving the junior on the outside looking when the field was cut down to nine.

Knowing it would take another personal record throw to get onto the medal stand, Woolery fouled twice and failed to improve with his only qualifying mark in his final three tries. Still, the Islander would not be denied his All-American status.

“It’s long overdue, but a nice way to end my career,” said Woolery. “I am very thankful that it finished this way with me earning All-America honors.”

Morales earned All-American honors on Thursday when he placed 10th overall in the final of the men's shot put.

The completion of the men’s discus final drew to a close the four-day national championships that saw 20 Southland Conference student-athletes compete in 15 combined events in the men’s and women’s championships. In all, the league saw two teams score in the national team standings in A&M-Corpus Christi (2 points) and Northwestern State (1) while 10 athletes reached an event semifinal, six reached a final and two attained All-American status.

2009 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships -- Results
John McDonnell Track -- Fayetteville, Arkansas
Name	Class	School	Event	Finish
Samuel Kosgei	Jr.	Lamar	Men's 10,000	18th**
Leslie Bourgeois	Jr.	Nicholls	Women's Javelin	22nd
Cody Fillinich	Sr.	Northwestern State	Men's Javelin	8th***
Michael Courtney	Sr.	Sam Houston State	Men's 400	19th
Chris Cralle	Jr.	Sam Houston State	Men's Hammer	15th
Lane Dennis	Sr.	Sam Houston State	Men's 400 Hurdles	13th*
Darryl Hayes	So.	Sam Houston State	Men's 400	16th*
Dess Meek	So.	Sam Houston State	Women's High Jump	W/D
John Tipton	Sr.	Sam Houston State	Men's Discus	20th
Cory Roberts	Jr.	Southeastern La.	Men's Decathlon	19th**
Adonson Shallow	Jr.	Southeastern La.	Men's Discus	11th**
Andrew Duncan, III	Fr.	UT Arlington	Men's High Jump	T-22nd
Cordero Gray	So.	UT Arlington	Men's 100/200	10th/16th
Jasmine Walls		UT Arlington	Women's 200	11th*
Cordero Gray, Jarid Vaughan, Takeshi Fujiwara, Byron Majors	So., Jr., Sr., Sr.	UT Arlington	4x100 Relay	15th
Hickel Woolery	Sr.	A&M-Corpus Christi	Men's Discus	7th***
Katherine Evans	Jr.	Texas State	Women's High Jump	25th
Kemuel Morales	Sr.	Texas State	Shot Put	10th***
* indicates event semifinalist
** indicates event finalist
*** indicates All-American
W/D indicates withdrawn from event