West Lyon's Jana TerWee, a jack of all trades, wins shot put state title and 4th in discus

There's really no other way to describe West Lyon shot put and discus thrower Jana TerWee.

The senior is a jack of all trades.

TerWee has been one of the state's best throwers during her four years of high school. On Thursday at the state track and field meet, she won her second-consecutive shot put title to go along with her discus title in 2022. She was also one of the state's best wrestlers as a two-time state finalist and a state champion in 2022.

She's a lot more than an athlete, too. In college, she plans to study psychology or forensics. With that, she hopes to work in law enforcement, potentially for the FBI at some point. She also happens to be a part of the choir club at West Lyon and recently sang the national anthem at the IGHSAU state wrestling meet.

She's a regular in shop class as well. She's got a passion for woodworking and building items for her home. TerWee likes to play with fire a bit too, being quite proficient in welding and is particularly proud of a go-cart she built and welded together.

The options in front of TerWee are endless as she departs high school. She could focus on her academics and career goals in college. She could have taken up trade school to become a welder. She also had athletic opportunities in wrestling, shot put and track, equally talented in both.

But in the end, her favorite place to be is in a shot put and discus pit.

TerWee comes from a track and field family. Her dad, also her throwing coach, was a thrower in college at Wayne State. Her older sister was also a thrower in college, attending South Dakota State. From a very early age, TerWee remembers rolling a discus on the ground while waiting hours on end for her siblings to get done at various track and field meets.

It would have been easy for her to spend all that time around the sport and get sick of it. However, as soon as she dabbled in it herself, she was hooked.

"There's nothing like that one little moment when it comes off your hand just right," TerWee said. "I fell in love with those little moments. That's how I knew I wanted to continue that into college."

As a result, the jack of all trades made her choice to keep on throwing in college, joining the track and field program at Princeton University. After falling in love with the opportunities in front of her, along with the scenery on the school's New Jersey campus, it was a no-brainer for TerWee.

"It was meant to be," TerWee said.

She's excited to continue her track and field career while also taking moments to dabble with singing, woodworking and welding when she finds time.

The future Tiger concluded her high school track and field career with her second state title in shot put, her third overall title in throwing events. Her throw this season of 44 feet, two inches at the Sioux Land Conference meet was a personal record and was the second-best throw of the season in Iowa.

She ultimately didn't have the day she wanted in discus to conclude her career, taking fourth with a throw of 128 feet, 10 inches. However, her head is high as she finished her career atop the podium at least one more time and has a plethora of options for a very bright future.

"The goal was to get first (in discus), but you can't win 'em all," TerWee said, "I had a really great season."

Eli McKown covers high school sports and wrestling for the Des Moines Register. Contact him at Emckown@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @EMcKown23

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: West Lyon's Jana TerWee wins shot put at Iowa state track meet 2024