Special to the Abilene Reporter-News
Kayla Melgar completed the trifecta last week at Texas Tech. It was a weighty trifecta at that.
When the Abilene Christian senior heaved the shot put 52 feet, 4¾ inches, it gave her school records in all three of the weight events – adding to the discus and hammer marks she already held.
"When I threw it and saw it land, I knew it was good," Melgar said. "It felt good coming out of my hand. I jumped up. I was itching for that mark. To surpass it by two whole feet, that was just unbelievable."
Actually, the 5-foot-10 Melgar surpassed it by 2 feet, 1¾ inches. The previous record was set 33 years earlier by Marlene Lewis.
Her other records were set a year earlier – 182-1 in the discus at the TCU Invitational and 190-3 in the hammer at the Southland Conference Championships. Interestingly, Melgar had never thrown the hammer until she came to ACU.
"She's a special person," ACU coach Lance Bingham said. "She's always been a powerful young lady and very athletic. Her growth has come through her maturing. She is not shook by events."
Bingham and associate head and throws coach Jerrod Cook know full well that all three weight throws take different techniques. Melgar knows it, too. It didn't stop her from tackling them all on a high level.
"Learning different techniques, that is the special part of what she's accomplished," Bingham said. "There's a lot of difference in those events. It takes a lot of time to compete at that level."
Interestingly, Melgar and senior teammate Lonnie Smith came to ACU from Tempe High School in Arizona where they had been teammates for four years. Cook was at the airport to pick up running recruit Diana Garcia-Munoz, also from Tempe, when he asked her if she knew of any throwers. Garcia-Munoz, one year older, immediately mentioned Melgar. And when Melgar came to visit ACU as a recruit, Cook asked her about any teammates.
"I mentioned Lonnie, but I didn't know whether she wanted to come," said Melgar, a communications major and Dean's List student. "We came as a package."
Smith is another of six standout Wildcat throwers – Annina Brandenburg on the women's team and Kai Schmidt, Morgan Knight and Josh Hunter on the men's team. All are talented enough to compete on the national level.
"It's like a huge family," Melgar said of the six, all of whom are either seniors or graduate students. "We came in together. We were very different people from different places and backgrounds. We all had one thing in common – we wanted to be (at ACU) and utilize our talent. Lonnie and I have been (competing) together since high school. We still compete among ourselves, but don't care as long as one of us finishes first and the other second.
"Kai and Nina are from Germany, but I look up to them. They have spent countless hours working hard on their craft as well as their studies. Josh is another hard worker. We all understand the pressure to do well. We all get along. This (weight field) is our safe place."
Melgar came to ACU as a three-sport standout. She was a four-year starter as a middle blocker on the volleyball team and a goalie on the soccer team. There was never any question about her athleticism. Once she started to focus solely on the weight throws, her distances increased substantially.
"To get anywhere, you must have a mentality that I can do it," Melgar said. "I credit Coach Cook and Lance Bingham with instilling that positivity in me."
Having qualified for the regionals in her three specialty events, Melgar is setting the bar even higher for herself. And it isn't just shooting to increase her distances.
"I'd like to qualify for nationals in each event," she said. "And I'd like my teammates to join me."
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