Saunders saves best, record for last

Mississippi junior not only rebounds following last year's 12th-place finish, but improves on her own all-time collegiate best to secure second indoor shot put title

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

Raven Saunders arrived at the NCAA Division 1 Indoor Championships looking to take care of some unfinished business.

She left Rhonda and Frosty Gilliam Jr. Indoor Track Stadium in College Station, Texas with another shot put championship and an improvement on her own collegiate record.

Even with another NCAA outdoor title, a runner-up finish at the U.S. Olympic Trials and a fifth-place effort in Rio de Janeiro, Saunders needed redemption Friday following last year's 12th-place finish in Birmingham, Ala., and she got it by delivering a final-round mark of 64 feet, 2.25 inches (19.56m).

"I was still coming here on a mission. You know it's indoors and this is where bad stuff happened last year and I refused to let it happen again," said Saunders, who became the Rebels' first female athlete since Brittney Reese in 2008 to win an indoor title.

"It was just a matter of taking it as a learning experience and understanding and really pushing forward. You have to have something that knocks you down for you to understand what it is you are working toward. It took a while for me to get back to being myself, but once that happened, I was all ready for it."

Saunders had a fourth-round mark of 63 feet (19.20m), before unleashing her world-leading effort on the final attempt of the competition.

"I knew I had a collegiate record in me after the 19.20m because I knew I didn't give that throw everything I had. With me being only 3 centimeters away, I knew it was just a matter of time," Saunders said. "I'm too close to my record just to let it slip away right now, so I just got into the ring and had nothing to lose, so I just went for it."

Saunders, whose collegiate record entering the meet was 63-1.25 (19.23m) from last year's Iowa State Classic, elevated to the No. 4 female performer in U.S. history behind Michelle Carter, Jill Camarena-Williams and Ramona Pagel.

"There's definitely a lot of things that I like to put as chips on my shoulder to try and really keep me grounded and humble and working toward being the best that there is," Saunders said. "My high school coach tells me all the time that I got to this position based off desperation and working my behind off, so I try to use any and everything I can to keep pushing myself."

Janeah Stewart, the favorite to win the women's weight throw Saturday, placed eighth in the shot put for the Rebels with a mark of 56-6.50 (17.23m).

"When I'm competing with Raven, I just try to keep up with her," Stewart said. "When she's yelling at me, I can't look bad in front of Raven, so I just try to impress her."