National Champion

Meet the National Champion

Destiney Coward

2018 NCAA Div. II Indoor Track and Field Champion WEIGHT THROW

• Chemistry major, senior

• Track and Field, throwing events

• Hometown: East Haven, Conn.

Record smasher: Southern’s all-time record holder in the weight throw (21.29 in 2018) and the hammer (62.51 in 2017) • Among the NCAA Div. II All-Time Best Performers in the indoor weight throw (7th) and the outdoor hammer (8th) • Numerous Athlete of the Year and All American honors (indoor and outdoor)

It begins: While Coward comes from a family of athletes, her career as a hammer thrower began at Southern. Before meeting award-winning coach Bill Sutherland, ’73, she had only two seasons of experience as a discus and shot put athlete in high school.

Thanks coach: “He told me, ‘You could be good at those, but great at this,’” says Coward of Sutherland, who also competed as a track athlete at Southern and ranks in the Owls’ top 10 in the discus throw. Sutherland also coached Olympians, including 2004 U.S. hammer performer Anna Mahon, 6th Yr. ’07.

Excelling on the field and in the classroom: “It’s always been about finding the time,” says Coward. “Sometimes one comes before the other. It’s not always perfectly balanced, but I try.”

Olympic dreams: Coward says her next step is Hayward Field in Oregon for the 2020 Olympic trials. While she hopes to later attend medical school and become a doctor, for now, she says her aspirations are on the field.

Most memorable moment: competing at an outdoor event in spring 2017, just after the national anthem played and the players were being introduced • “I was just standing there when they announced that I was in the top 10 of [NCAA] Div. II history — something I hadn’t known about myself. It’s so crazy to think about,” says Coward.

By Isabella Collier, senior, English major

SouthernCTOwls.com