While it has only been one week since the NCAA Indoor Championships, many outdoor meets already began earlier this month out west. Below are results from the first three weekend of March.

At the start of the month, Trey Henderson (USC) threw a personal best of 68.49m at Cal State Fullerton. Henderson placed 5th at the NCAA Outdoor Championships last sesaon. Chris Cralle (Sam Houston State) opened his season this weekend just behind Henderson with a toss of 68.27m. Cralle redshirted last year, but threw a personal best of 71.09m at the USA Championships for 8th place, just behind Walter Henning. He then beat Henning and threw over 70 meters again to win gold at the NCACAC U23 Championships last summer. Now entering his final season, Cralle should be competitive for a podium finish at nationals. Also impressive this weekend is true freshman Justin Welch (Georgia). Welch, who placed 10th at the World Junior Championships last year, threw a big personal best of 66.78m.

On the women's side, Amanda Bingson (UNLV) added nearly three meters to her personal best with a throw of 66.81m earlier this month. Bingson had some impressive throws last year, including a best of 64.07m and an 8th place finish at the U.S. Championships, but she disappointed at regionals and failed to qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Championships. A new face in the west is Hungarian Jenny Ozorai (USC). Ozori opened the season at 62.00m and has a personal best of 66.12m. She also already has a nice collection of medals after winning bronze at the 2008 World Junior Championships and silver at the 2009 European Junior Championships. Her teammate Marissa Minderler (USC) has made a lot of progress in the off season and just threw a personal best of 62.60m this weekend.

Collegiate Men's Hammer Throw  
========================================================================== 
    Name                    Year School                  Result            
==========================================================================
  1 Trey Henderson            SR USC                     68.49m   224-08
  2 Chris Cralle              SR Sam Houston State       68.27m   224-00
  3 Justin Welch              FR Georgia                 66.78m   219-01
  4 Jordan Stray              SR Oregon                  65.26m   214-01
  5 Colin Dunbar              SR Long Beach State        65.08m   213-06
  6 Robert Drye               JR Air Force               61.85m   202-11
  7 Christoph Hutschalik      SR Gardner-Webb            61.08m   200-05
Cutoff: 61.00m

Collegiate Women's Hammer Throw  
========================================================================== 
    Name                    Year School                  Result            
==========================================================================
  1 Amanda Bingson            JR UNLV                    66.81m   219-02
  2 Marissa Minderler         SR USC                     62.60m   205-04
  3 Jenny Ozorai              FR USC                     62.00m   203-05
  4 Ayla Gill                 JR SMU                     61.70m   202-05
  5 Chid Onyewuenyi           SR UC Davis                58.96m   193-05
  8 Danielle Thu              SR UC San Diego (D2)       58.93m   193-04
  6 Shant'e White             JR Buffalo                 58.41m   191-08
  7 Chelsea Cassulo           JR UNLV                    58.28m   191-02
Cutoff: 58.00m

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