SE: Tight-Knit Culture Lays Groundwork for K-State’s Historic Hammer Throw Season

One-third of K-State track and field's participants for the NCAA Outdoor Championships come from one event: the hammer throw. Five Wildcats qualified to nationals in the event, making up more than one-fifth — about 21 percent — of the 24 men and women who came out of NCAA West Preliminary for the hammer throw.

The numbers are staggering and they place K-State in rare company.

Since 2008, Southern Illinois (2010) is the only school to send five hammer throwers to the national meet. With the Wildcats' three qualifiers on the men's side — Mitch Dixon, Brady Grunder and Kyle Smith — K-State became the first school to qualify more than two hammer throwers since Virginia Tech sent a trio in 2011. Georgia is the only other school since 2005 to accomplish the feat.

"It's incredibly special," Dixon said.

"Five people is ridiculous," added Grunder. "In the region that we had, it's ridiculous. It's unheard of right now in throwing."

Smith, a senior making his first NCAA Championship appearance on Wednesday, had this to say about the feat: "It's a process that is just amazing to be a part of and watch and see firsthand. I have the best seat in the house to watch this historic event for K-State in the hammer throwers."

By sending Janee' Kassanavoid and Helene Ingvaldsen, K-State has now sent multiple female hammer throwers to nationals for the second-straight year.

"It's pretty special," Kassanavoid said. "We train together all year and we compete at all the meets together. It's great to continue with each other to nationals and see how we do to end the season."

A number of factors led to this level of collective success for K-State's hammer throwers. It required talent, hard work and elite coaching all coming together, as each of them will point out. It also takes buying into a certain mindset.

"This group, specifically, is great at understanding the process and the grind. They understand that the throws put in earlier in year or the years before are going to lead up to these big moments," Dixon said. "The big competitions are fun, but in order to do well at the sport, you have to love practice and you have to love the lifting. I feel like this group really gets that."

What sets this group apart, however, is what it does away from the track.

"We do a lot of individual bonding together," Kassanavoid said. "We just try to stay close because we're a family here at K-State and we hope to be friends after college."

"We are pretty close," Ingvaldsen added of the hammer throw group. "We are pushing each other at practice and are there for each other. We're a K-State family."

The five throwers, from four different states, while Ingvaldsen hails from Norway, gather regularly outside of workouts and practices for movies (usually superhero flicks) and game nights (such as Clue or Family Feud).

"We're always hanging out and doing something," Dixon said. "Anything to build the team aspect."

K-State throws coach Greg Watson said the camaraderie between the Wildcat hammer throwers makes this group unique.

"The culture of this group stands out above anything training wise that we've done all year long. It takes a lot of support, a lot of commitment, a lot of preparation in order to accomplish something like they did," he said. "Regardless of training, regardless of the work that they put in, the culture of their group and the how close they are with each other outside of training is definitely a huge contributor to their success."

The group's success has also rewritten K-State's record book more than once.

During the Texas Invitational in April, all three Wildcat men held the school record at some point, with Dixon coming out of the meet with the top spot. For the season, the three have set the school record a combined six times this season.

"I held the record for, I think, a total of about 30 to 45 seconds. That was kind of a cloud nine feeling," said Smith, who threw his personal-best mark (64.99m/213-02) at the West Preliminary meet to currently rank third on K-State's all-time list.

"To be able throw around the school record like that is crazy," added Grunder, whose best mark (65.91m/216-03) currently ranks second in school history, a mere one-inch difference from Dixon at the top. "It's ridiculous. No one is better than each other."

The gap between Kassanavoid, a junior making her second trip to Eugene, Oregon, for the NCAA Championships, and Ingvaldsen, a freshman, closed considerably throughout the year to mirror the men's tight competition.

Kassanavoid broke the K-State women's hammer throw record at the Texas Invitational as well. Her throw of 66.97m/219-08 topped her previous best by more than three meters. Ingvaldsen, who is fairly new to the event, has caught on quickly. After finishing fourth at the Big 12 Championship with a mark of 59.60m/195-06, Ingvaldsen recorded a huge personal-best throw of 64.14m/210-05 at the West Preliminary meet.

"Coming in, she's been a great addition," Kassanavoid said of Ingvaldsen. "She's been a hard worker and has just joined into the work ethic of the rest of the team. We've all had our bad days and we've all had our good days. Feeding off each other at competitions has been great for this year."

The five Wildcats fuel each other in the best times and support one another during the worst, which stems back to their close-knit culture.

"It's a different atmosphere from freshman year. It's like we're all at the same level and we're trying to push each other to get further and further," Smith, in his fifth year at K-State, said. "We're so close, closely knit, that one person will throw a little bit further and then the other person will throw just a little bit further than them, and it keeps stacking and stacking. Definitely the closeness of this group keeps it going."

Four of the five Wildcats set new personal bests at the West Preliminary meet, and all of them qualified to the meet they set their sights months before.

"In terms of my coaching career, that's one of the highlights forever," said Watson, a Southern Utah graduate who recruited all but Smith in this hammer throw group, doing so with a vision of creating depth through a family-like atmosphere. "When I was in college, we had a pretty close group and I think that contributed to our success. I know it contributes to the success of them as well.

"No one wants to be last, so they continue to push each other. I think they have all helped raise each other's standards."

Now, the five Wildcats look to help one another at the biggest, and last, meet of the season. In Smith and Grunder's case, it's the final meet of their outdoor careers.

"They're invested in one another, so I think they're a little more comfortable knowing they have their whole support system there," Watson said of the NCAA Championships. "They train with each other every single day, so they all know what they can expect from each other and from themselves. That's definitely important when we go into that meet."

"With families not being in the U.S., or not being able to travel, having those people there to support you and cheer you on, that will be great," said Kassanavoid, who will throw with Ingvaldsen on Thursday. "It's just a really great, extra bonus to have."

For more information on the K-State track and field teams heading into the NCAA Championships, click here.

Kansas State University Athletics

SE: Tight-Knit Culture Lays Groundwork for K-State’s Historic Hammer Throw Season

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