FAYETTE - William Woods junior Katie French hit an NAIA "A" national qualifying standard in winning the women's shot put Saturday during the Central Methodist Invitational.
French won the shot put with a throw of 45 feet, 7.75 inches, more than four feet ahead of runner-up Tori Tyler from Truman State. The NAIA "A" standard is 44-5.5, and French's throw is the third-longest in the NAIA this season.
French, who was named the American Midwest Conference women's field athlete of the week Monday, was one of two event winners for the William Woods women at the two-day event.
Freshman Natalie Thomas won the women's javelin Friday with a throw of 125-8, finishing less than a meter shy of an NAIA "B" qualifying standard. That throw ranks No. 2 in William Woods history in the event.
In Friday's other events, French placed second in the hammer throw with a toss of 146-3, finishing three inches behind the winner. Senior Ananiah Talton placed fourth in the event with a throw of 137-11.
Talton finished in the top five in three events. She placed fourth in the shot put with a throw of 38-0.75 and took fifth in the discus with a toss of 122-9.
French placed second in the discus with a throw of 139-7, an NAIA "B" national qualifying standard, while freshman Jeanette Woehrle placed fourth at 125-6. Woehrle also finished fifth in the shot put with a throw of 37-3.25.
Sophomore Nia Hawkins placed in the top eight in a pair of field events. She was fourth in the triple jump with a distance of 33-7.5 while adding a seventh-place distance in the long jump with a leap of 15-8.75. Sophomore Trinity Thomas placed eighth in the long jump at 15-7.5.
In the women's high jump, junior Kylie Zamboni-Cutter was runner-up after clearing the bar at 5-1 on her third attempt.
In the track events, freshman Tara Hillebrand finished fifth in the 400-meter dash with a time of 1:04.76.
Senior Naomi Kerkula place in the top eight in two individual events. She finished seventh in the 100-meter dash with a time of 13.24 seconds, then took eighth in the 200-meter dash in 27.56 seconds. Hawkins was edged by Kerkula in the 100 by thousandths of a second, finishing eighth in 13.24 seconds.
Kerkula and Hawkins both ran on the Owls' 4x400-meter relay team. Along with freshman Jessica Clausner and Hillebrand, William Woods finished sixth in the relay with a time of 4:21.41.
There were no team scores recorded at the Invitational.
William Woods will compete Saturday in the Lincoln Open at Jefferson City.