Senior Bree Fuqua, a member of the Oregon women’s track and field team, set a personal record and broke the school shotput record last week in her home state at the Montana Open.
The Polson, Mont., native put the shot 53 feet and nine inches to finish first in the event and take the Oregon record previously held by Quenna Beasley, who set the last mark of 53-1 1/2 in 1983.
The 5-foot-9 thrower, who has been a Duck hurler for two years, also recorded a personal-best in discus, winning that event with a 165-4 heave.
Fuqua’s new shotput record is more than one foot better than her former personal record of 52-8 3/4, which was set last year at the NCAA West Regional. With that, she qualified for the collegiate finale but came up short, finishing 24th with a 49-5 put.
In the 2004 indoor season, Fuqua set a new indoor shotput school record with a season-best 51-3 1/2 toss.
Prior to joining Oregon’s track and field squad, Fuqua competed for three seasons at Wisconsin where she set — and still holds — the school’s indoor (51-3) and outdoor (51-5 1/2) shotput records.
— Stephen Miller