Hard Work Pays Off

This weekend, North Central College hosted the Chicagoland Indoor Championships. 25 teams from all over the area came to Naperville to compete. We kicked things off with the weight throw.

I had a while to wait because I was in the last flight of four. Two of my teammates were in the second flight, and one was in the third flight, so while I was waiting I cheered them on. There were amazing prs, but also some upsets. Naomi Yamane and Allison Shulski both had outstanding throws which led to some great prs.

Teammates' Throws

 
While, Monica Smith had a rougher go. She gave it her all, but was jipped out of her last throw. The officials declared her last throw a scratch because she supposedly touched the top of the board, when in fact she didn't. We take videos of everyone's throws, and her foot clearly passed over the top of the board without touching. Unfortunately, we have no way of challenging the call because there are no official cameras to double check that kind of thing.

These things happen though, and she'll move on and throw great next week.

Now it's my turn. My flight is finally up, and I am pumped to start things off a positive note. Right out of the bat, my first throw is a pr, and it was with a one turn(much to my coaches dismay haha)! This is fantastic, and it gives me momentum into my next throw. On the next one I power out a two turn, and land another pr. My final prelim throw doesn't go as planned, but doesn't get me down because I know I've got three more throws coming in finals.

Prelims

After a couple of the throwers do some pre-finals warmups, we're ready to get things moving. I'm currently standing in 6th out of 41. When it's finally my turn, I over-rotate with large steps and spin right out of the ring. It's all good though, I know I've got more in me. 
On my next throw, I completely shank it and it flies into the cage.

 

At this point, I made a decision to throw a one turn for my final throw. I ask my coaches, and they agree. Taylor, aka Coach Taylor Trockmorten, tells me to just get it out there and have some fun with it, and that's exactly what I planned to do. I've been having really solid one turns all week at practice, so I knew that I could really do something with this last throw.

I step into the ring and just build up all of the energy that I have in my body for this last throw. It's a go big or go home moment. I put on my big girl pants and just go full out.

That throw you see right there, got me the school record of 16.07m and bumped me up to 3rd place behind Amy Blucker of Olivet Navarene University at 19.12m and Mia Bennett of Carthage at 16.26m.

 

Final Results

"Hard work + dreams + dedication = success" - Anonymous

(Sorry this post is longer than usual! I felt the length was necessary to tell the whole story.)