ASU thrower Maggie Ewen’s unique talents elevated her to next level

TEMPE, Ariz. — Since arriving at Arizona State, senior Maggie Ewen showed her prowess for throwing the shot put, discus and hammer throw.

What Ewen does with these three items in competition can be classified as just throwing, but each one requires completely unique skills, technique and rhythm, making preparing for them a different task altogether.

Excelling in just one of those throwing categories requires “unique talent,” ASU throwing coach Brian Blutreich said, but excelling in all three puts someone on a level that’s rare for most field athletes. That’s how Ewen differentiates herself as a thrower.

“That’s why she’s the best at it,” Blutreich said. “It’s very hard. No one’s done what she’s done, ever, in terms of the level she has done at all three events.”

Ewen capped off her ASU career recently with two more national championships, winning the discus and shot put in Eugene, Ore. Those add to an indoor shot put title in 2018 and a title in the hammer throw in 2017. She’s competed in nationals ever since her freshman season.

Her mark will also be left in the NCAA record books with record throws in the outdoor shot put and hammer throw. On Wednesday, she was named one of three finalists for the Bowerman Award on the women’s side.

She’ll leave ASU with four school records in both indoor and outdoor shot put, the hammer throw and the weight throw. She also ranks second in school history in discus, along with her numerous conference championships.

Her journey to reach these heights started when she was in third grade. Ewen said she remembers her sister Alicia Ewen joining the local track and field team, spurring her interest.

Although Alicia later found her niche in volleyball, Maggie stuck with track and field, a sport she said she enjoys but doesn’t exactly know why it resonated with her.

“It’s just one of those consistent things that I’ve always really, really enjoyed and always had a lot of fun doing, so I just did it as much as possible,” she said.

Maggie, who is from Minnesota, comes from a strong sports family. Her father, Bruce Ewen, was an All-American thrower for Illinois State, her mother, Kristi Ewen, played volleyball at Ohio State and Alicia played volleyball at the University of Mary.

Throughout their childhoods, both Maggie and Alicia said they never felt pressured to compete in sports. Instead, they cultivated it themselves. There was also a competitive nature there for the Ewen girls.

Alicia said even though both she and her sister played sports, the most competitive moments came when the two would play video games.

“For some reason, it was video games that brought out the biggest competitive drive for us,” Alicia said while laughing. “I don’t know if it was because we were always on the same team so when we got older, it all meshed. She wins, I win. With video games, there’s one winner.”

With competitiveness and a sports-loving family behind her, Maggie started training first with the discus. Bruce was involved in the pair’s athletic development, Alicia said.

She said he made a throwing ring in the family barn so Maggie could throw. While Maggie learned how to throw the discus, she came to like the individuality of the sport where it was just her and her father.

“I liked that personal responsibility,” Maggie said. “If I’m going to have a bad day, that’s totally on me. It’s not because of something my teammates did or my coach did or anything like that. That’s just all on me, all my responsibility.”

When Maggie got older, it was time to add a new throw to the mix: the shot put. She said she wasn’t thrilled at first to do this new throw.

Maggie said she knew if she wanted to compete in college, she would have to throw the shot put. Still, she avoided throwing the shot put, confessing she may have thrown it about once a week until she realized she had a talent for it.

In retrospect, she doesn’t know why she disliked the shot put so much but she knows the value behind diversifying athletic abilities.

“Your value as an athlete increases the more events you can do and the more events you are good at,” she said. “I just knew eventually, I was going to need to throw the shot put. So as much as I didn’t want to, I started throwing it.”

A big difference between the shot put and the discus, Maggie said, is the rhythm.

For shot put, Maggie focuses on a quick, explosive release. By contrast, Maggie said for a successful discus throw, she needs to follow a long, fluid and smooth release.

Furthermore, these two throws differ significantly from the hammer throw, which Maggie didn’t begin until her freshman year at ASU. Minnesota doesn’t carry hammer throw as a high school event.

Before ever competing in the hammer throw, Maggie said her father kept saying she would be successful in the event. This led to Maggie getting excited to throw the hammer.

She redshirted her freshman year and took that time to learn how to throw the hammer. She also used that time to learn then-throwing coach David Dumble’s system for throwing the shot put and the discus.

“Getting here and learning this totally new, totally crazy event was a lot of fun and I had a lot of fun with it right from the start,” she said.

Maggie said learning the hammer throw forced her to focus on timing, which differs greatly from the other two throws’ position-based nature.

Three years into Maggie’s ASU career, Dumble left for Oregon State and Blutreich came into the program.

Upon first interacting with Maggie, Blutreich said he was impressed with how open she was to receiving instruction and how she applied it to herself.

He also said he was impressed with her “unique talent that’s God given,” especially in the way she throws the shot put. Blutreich said he believes Maggie’s undersized for a shot putter but uses her power and speed to overcome that.

His overall assessment of Maggie has Blutreich comparing her to a basketball great.

“That’s what makes LeBron (James) special: his size, his speed, his ability to learn how to pass, how to shoot, the nuances of the game,” Blutreich said. “That’s where Maggie’s at. She’s a different level physically and mentally.”

Alicia remembers many years ago her sister reaching the podium in eighth grade at a state track meet. It was this moment that Alicia realized her sister had the potential to do something great in track and field.

At the time, Alicia said her sibling rivalry instinct kicked in and it was hard to appreciate as much. Not so today.

Maggie did not qualify for the hammer throw at this year’s nationals as she fouled on all three throws at the NCAA West Regionals.

While Maggie tried to put it behind her, Alicia said she could tell it was tough on her sister to not qualify.

That left two other events for Maggie. In the shot, she threw 62 feet 10.75 inches, about a foot shorter than her NCAA record she set earlier this year, to win the title.

In discus, she won the event on her final throw, tossing the discus 198 feet 5 inches. This win was significant for Maggie, because it is her favorite event.

Seeing how the final throw came together, Alicia said she could see a burden lifted from her sister as she won.

“I don’t even know a word I could use to describe it, but I think the discus title and how happy she was to finish her last time throwing her favorite event, doing it and ending up on top brought back a bit of her spark,” Alicia said.

Ahead of the nationals, Maggie said she had several goals heading into the championships all centering on making the most of her final college meet.

“I want to enjoy my last college meet as much as possible,” she said. “Try not to put too much stress on myself, not to put too much pressure. Really just go in there and have a lot of fun.”

With four national championships in hand, Maggie’s has left a lasting legacy in ASU’s track and field history and the sport as a whole.