EUGENE, OR—Winthrop junior throws specialist Marthaline Cooper broke her own school hammer throw record as she finished third in the 2016 Outdoor NCAA Track and Field Championships with a school-record toss of 65.21 meters (213-11) on Thursday afternoon at Hayward Field in Eugene, OR.
 
Her third place performance marks the highest finish for a Winthrop athlete in the NCAA Track and Field Championships, both indoor and outdoor.
 
Cooper's finish earned her outdoor field All-American honors for the second straight year and increased her total All-American awards to three as she also earned that recognition at the 2016 indoor championships in Birmingham, AL, during February.
 
Cooper's best throw came on her first throw of the day and the third in the competition as she was paired with 11 other athletes in flight 1. That distance surpassed her previous best throw of 64.36m which was set during her first outdoor meet this past season. It also vaulted her into the hammer throw finals which included the top nine distances from the 24 competitors who qualified two weeks ago at the East and West Preliminary rounds.
 
Following her first throw, Cooper made five other tosses, but the closest she came to matching her record was 63.19m on her third throw. 
 
Southern Illinois senior and defending NCAA hammer throw champion DeAnna Price broke her NCAA meet record which she set in 2015 by throwing the implement 71.49m (234-6) to better her record by two inches.  The second place finisher with a distance of 65.61m (215-3) was Sara Savatovic, a senior from Kansas State.
 
Of the 10 top finishers, five were seniors, including four of the top five.