Back when TeRina Keenan was only a few months out of New Zealand and a freshman thrower for Hawaii track and field, Seilala Sua-Zumbado was coaching Cal State Northridge and scoping out the competition at a meet.
“She was shorter and much skinnier,” recalled Sua-Zumbado, who won a record seven NCAA championships at UCLA. “We would be like, ‘Who is this skinny girl? What is she doing? Is she a high jumper?’ Then here she comes out throwing.”
Keenan was, is and always has been a thrower. She competes today in the discus at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Des Moines, Iowa. She won five conference medals (three golds and two silver), endured three regional disappointments and earned her degree in communications before she arrived.
If you talk to Sua-Zumbado, Keenan will be arriving for a while. She has put on 20 pounds of muscle in the last year to fill her 6-foot frame and “changed my whole technique.” The graceful style, long limbs and wonderful leverage remain, along with her analytical mind, introspective nature, tenacious work ethic and those wondrous physical gifts.
“She’s obviously gained some size the last couple of years and she’s just going to keep gaining strength,” the first-year UH coach said. “She is still untapped. Competing internationally, I’ve seen girls with TeRina’s body type, maybe a little stronger, but they are older.”
Keenan is seeded 11th among the 24 discus qualifiers. The top 12 after the first round compete for the national championship tonight. Keenan became the third UH thrower (after Novelle Murray and Joan Gago) to reach the nationals by taking eighth at the NCAA West Preliminary Round. She threw 176 feet, 6 inches then and a personal-best 179-2 in winning her third Western Athletic Conference championship this year.
Her goal is the UH record (185-2), NCAA success (the best throw this year is 195 feet) and Olympic possibilities. The qualifying standard is 203-4, but New Zealand’s is some 5 feet less. An Olympic B standard (195 feet) might also be good enough to get her to London because she would be the only person in her country to throw that far.
It sounds like a stretch for someone who has only “flirted” with 180 feet, but the thrower and her coach know what is possible. After four years at UH and finally finding a national coach who inspired her at home last summer, Keenan sees her future clearly now and is extremely focused, maybe for the first time.
“Anything could happen, I could pull out a big one or I could not,” she said. “I have to try for it. I’ve got another month left. I’m going over to Europe this summer to train and compete, so I have a lot of chances. I’m just starting to peak.
“Before, this was kind of what I wanted to do. Now I know I want to pursue this further. I know what I want to do, what I have to do, what kind of training I need.”
Sua-Zumbado likes what Keenan sees. She has faith in her “world-class” potential, what might happen over the next quadrennial — and what might happen today.
“The most crucial thing for her is not to be intimidated and get caught up with what all the other girls are doing,” Sua-Zumbado said. “That wasn’t a problem at regionals and I don’t think it will be a problem now. Sometimes at nationals you try to do too much. As long as she stays within herself, she’ll be ready to go and get a personal record.”
Hawaii has had athletes qualify for the NCAA Outdoors six times in the past seven years. The only Rainbow Wahine to medal during that span is high jumper Amber Kaufman, who won gold in 2010 and bronze in 2009. Long jumper Gwen Loud took gold in 1984.
The NCAA championships will be streamed live on NCAA.com. ESPN will provide coverage on a tape-delayed basis.
