[marching band plays]
>> Terry!
>> Terry Stramowski spends
the last weekend of each summer
in Prairie du Sac.
She watches the parade with
her grand kids, and while
they're waiting for candy,
she's looking for something
a little less sweet.
>> Last chance for chips!
>> Oh, that's a good chip.
Grandma's going to throw
that one far.
[band plays]
>> Like most Wisconsin
festivals there's music and
food, but Terry is here for
one thing only--
>> Mother!
>> Sorry!
>> --to throw cow chips
farther than any other woman.
[crowd reacts]
>> This is the Wisconsin
State Cow Chip Throw,
and Terry is the grande dame.
>> I'm the queen.
Yes, I could call myself
the queen.
>> Since 1990 Terry has never
finished less than second,
and has won the whole thing
a record 18 times.
>> I've got a lot, hey.
>> She has a box of trophies,
each featuring a different
puny theme.
>> --the Shape Up or Chip Out,
Come Fly The Friendly Pies,
Happy Moo-lennium,
Sauk Prairie, Where Chips
Hit the Fan.
That was a funny one.
>> This queen of the cow pie
even has her own crown.
You wear that with pride?
>> Yes, I do!
>> She received that after her
women's state record throw
of 157 feet in 2005.
>> That's going to be pretty
hard to beat.
>> Terry's first year at
the Cow Chip Throw was 1990.
>> I really didn't know what
I was doing back then.
>> She thought it
sounded like fun.
And she won, that year
and for the next 12 years.
>> Somehow I managed to
pick the right chip on
the first year.
And then throughout the
following years, I learned
the techniques and which
chip to pick.
>> Over the years Terry has
gone from the young powerhouse
to the cagey veteran.
>> You know, I shouldn't be
telling my secrets here, but--
[laughs]
If the wind is behind you,
you wanna pick a lighter chip
so it catches the wind
behind you and it flies farther,
but if the wind is coming in,
you wanna pick a heavier chip
so that it cuts through
the wind.
>> But picking the correct
chip size is only half
the battle.
The throwing technique
is important too.
>> There is a technique.
You know, you gotta make sure
that you throw it like this
and not side arm.
>> For those paying attention,
Terry puts on a clinic
in the preliminaries
and is in 2nd place
heading into the finals.
Up next, Terry's last secret,
practice.
She plays softball all summer
and keeps her arm warm
on this gameday.
But she's also been known to
head to a local farm
and practice with
the real thing.
>> Ask the farmer's permission
if you could find some dry
manure, and just go out there
and pick it up and just
start throwing.
>> Announcer: Tossing next
to last with a toss of 102.8,
Terry Stramowski.
>> Terry throws even farther in
the finals, hitting 106 feet.
>> I think I got it.
I think I got it back.
[crowd cheers]
>> 106, 108.
>> But in the end, it's
another 2nd place, as she
comes up just a little short.
>> I lost by fifteen inches.
That wasn't bad.
>> Terry knows there's always
next year, when the cow chip
queen will be looking
to regain her crown.
>> Oh, I'll be holding on to
it until I die.
It's not something that
I'll stop doing.
And you know, like I said,
I'll keep going up there
every year.
Sorry girls.
[laughs]