Riley Olson-
University of Wisconsin–Stout’s Lydia Meier (Sr, Middleton, Wis) completely dominated the competition in the weight throw at the 2017 WIAC Women’s Indoor Track and Field Championship hosted by UW–Stout on February 24-25. UW–Stout hosted the eight WIAC teams, and finished fifth overall as a team.
“As a freshman, I’d have never thought I’d be where I am now, especially in indoor,” Meier said, giving credit to her coaches. “I have a really good coach who knows our learning types and knows how to coach us.”
Meier, who is no stranger to the limelight, finished second last year at the NCAA Division III Championship, earned the team’s MVP Field Athlete and is a three-time member of the WIAC Scholastic Honor Roll and the USTFCCCA All-American Team. She holds the school record for the indoor weight throw and the outdoor hammer throw.
Meier is facing a tall task in defending her throwing titles. Meier won the weight throw competition by nearly five feet, throwing 61-feet-10.25-inches. Runner up Amanda Strupp (Sr, Slinger, Wis) from UW-Whitewater had a throw of 57-0 feet. Five of Meier’s six tosses over the preliminaries and the finals were the top five marks of the day. Meier is the defending champion of the event.
She also won the WIAC Judy Kruckman Scholar-Athlete Award this year. “Winning the scholar-athlete award felt amazing! It feels awesome to work so hard for your grades and extracurriculars and track, and to be recognized for it with such a prestigious award! I was the co-recipient with one of our student athletic trainers at Stout as well, so it was really awesome to see her hard work recognized as well!” Meier stated.
Following these honors, Meier is looking forward to nationals. “My goal for Nationals is just to go out there and leave nothing left for regrets. I want to go out, compete and win,” Meier said. “It’s my last indoor meet as a senior, so I don’t want to leave anything left unquestioned.” Meier will be competing in Naperville, Ill. on March 10-11 at the Division III National Championship.