EUGENE, Ore. — Maygan Shaw made one final entry among her many in the Northwestern State sports history book Thursday evening, earning her second All-America honor, and her first in an individual event, at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
Shaw clocked a 51.80 in the 400-meter dash to place 14th and earn second team All-America honors at Hayward Field on the campus of the University of Oregon.
It is the first time a Lady Demons’ sprinter has earned an All-American spot.
Coming out of a veteran-laden third heat in lane No. 4, she pressured the leaders, but the top two qualifiers — Georgia’s Dejanea Oakley (50.18) and Iowa State’s Rachel Joseph (50.77) — pulled away in the home stretch and were ultimately the only two to make it to Saturday’s nine-woman final from the heat.
“I am so proud of her,” associate head coach Adam Pennington said. “She really went for it today and just came up a little short. But to be a top 14 girl in the entire country is nothing short of amazing.
“Making it last year was great, but making it individually is much different. She is now the first All American sprinter in an individual event in NSU history. That’s alone tells you where she sits — as the greatest.
“She will now prepare for the USA Championships but until then we will celebrate today and her amazing career,” said Pennington. “She loves cheesecake so we might end the night with that.”
Shaw was out in front of Tennessee’s Javonya Valcourt, one of the 10 fastest 400-meter runners in college athletics, but Valcourt came back to squeak past Shaw to finish fourth in the heat and 13th overall with a time of 51.65.
It is the second consecutive All-American honor for Shaw, who got her first last year as a member of the 4×400 relay team.
This ends arguably the best career for any NSU female sprinter ever.
As a senior, she broke both the indoor and outdoor school records, including clocking a Southland Conference record 51.19 at the LSU Alumni Gold, shortly after breaking the SLC and school records two weeks before at the Leon Johnson NSU Invitational with a 51.87, breaking the meet record as well as the Walter P. Ledet Complex record.
This week, the nursing major also was included on the Academic All-Southland Conference Team.
Shaw will have time to rest and reset before the USA Championships, which will also be held at Hayward Field, starting on July 31.