Not surprisingly for a college athlete playing two Division I sports, it was Daniel Te'o-Nesheim's competitive nature that fueled his best throw of the meet.

"I was doing (poorly) until that last shot," Te'o-Nesheim said. "I just got (angry) because (teammate) Cameron (Elisara) was beating me."

Te'o-Nesheim, a 2005 Hawai'i Prep graduate, does the rare double of participating in football and track and field at the highest level of collegiate sports. He is one of Washington's top shot put and discus throwers, and is a starting defensive end for the Huskies.

He notched an NCAA Regional qualifying mark in the shot put at Auburn's Springtime Invitational March 24, the second meet of the outdoor season.

His toss of 56 feet 4 1/2 inches was just short of his career-best distance of 56-5 1/4.

Te'o-Nesheim is equally successful in football. He was named to the 2006 Sporting News Pacific-10 Conference All-Freshman Team after starting all 12 games.

He was ninth on the team with 35 tackles, and his 10 tackles for loss tied him for third on the team.

In an interview last week, Te'o-Nesheim repeatedly asked for the time.

"I don't want to be late for training," said Te'o-Nesheim, who was leaving the track and on his way to a weight lifting session with the football team.

"It's pretty easy," he said. "You just have to manage your time. But it's fun, and worth it."

He was recruited to UW solely for football, but last year Te'o-Nesheim and football teammate Brandon Ala, a Kamehameha graduate, saw the track and field coaches and asked if they could throw.

"They just had me throw, and then they said, 'OK,' " he said.

It wasn't as though Te'o-Nesheim was a track and field rookie. He won the state high school championship in the shot put as a senior with a toss of 58 feet and was second in the state meet in the discus (176-6).

On most days he works on his throws for half an hour, then joins the football workouts. He will leave the track and field team when football spring practice begins Monday. UW's annual spring game is April 28.

Te'o-Nesheim recently returned to full workouts after undergoing surgery to repair torn meniscus in his right knee.

"I think it tore during the (football) season, but I didn't get it taken care of," he said. "Then one day at practice I couldn't make my knee straight."

He returned to the track team a week before the Auburn Invitational and was "surprised (the shot put) went so far," he said.

"It was kind of weird pushing off my right knee because I hadn't done much on it, but now it feels fine," he added.

Te'o-Nesheim said he was disappointed about his play during year's 5-7 campaign — "I thought I would do a lot better than I did. I guess some people might think (I did well), but I have a long way to go." — and is looking forward to the 2007 season, particularly when the Huskies' visit Hawai'i for a Dec. 1 game.

Reach Leila Wai at lwai@honoluluadvertiser.com.