TEN QUESTIONS WITH...

At the Cornell Invitational, you set a Cornell fieldhouse record with a toss of 62-6. After redshirting last year, how fulfilling was it to come back at one of your first meets and do something no one else has done before?
It was nice. I didn't know what I had done, actually, until my coach told me. We were about to get on the bus to go home. It's a real honor. I guess the record stood for 90 years.

With that throw of 62-6, you provisionally qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships. Are you excited to get the chance to go to the National meet?
Yes, very excited. However, it is only a provisional mark so I have to move up higher in the provisional field or get an automatic score to go.

Last year, while you were redshirting, Sarah Vance broke your school shot put records in both indoor and outdoor. Now, with both of you seniors, how nice is it to be able to go throw your final season with another thrower who has a history of success?
It's really nice to have someone there by your side both to encourage you and also to push you not to slack off. We both support each other. It's good competition, but I like going to the meets with someone else there to compete with me.

What is a typical day at practice for a thrower?
It depends on what we're throwing. We'll come in and do the team workout, then we'll unroll our mats, get the boards and the throwing circle and throw for probably an hour and a half or so. We probably lift before and after, depending on the day.

As the year moves towards the Mid-American Conference Championships, how does your training change?
You just have to make sure that your nerves don't make you want to do more than you usually do. That's a tempting thing to do, but usually right before, we taper off on our weights and make sure our muscles are fully recovered. Our throwing stays the same until a day or two before the meet and then we're ready.

The indoor track and field season is just the beginning of the year for your team. How difficult is it to try and balance during the season to ensure that you will be at your best in the outdoor season and at the conference championships?
It's difficult. Our real goal is the outdoor season. There's more placed on outdoor track and field than indoor, so to speak, so what we try to do is just go for our goal (at indoors), but then we get right back into the lifting to take us all the way to June.

How different is competing outdoors from competing at an indoor meet?
Well, the weather, for one. Around here, we don't really get to practice outside much unless we want to practice in snow. The implements are different, too. There is an indoor and outdoor shot put and then the weight throw isn't used in outdoor. We go to the hammer throw.

Coming from just up the road in Niagara Falls, what made you decide to come to UB to compete in college?
Actually academics. The psychology department is one of the best in the United States. I got to stay close to home and it was also good academically.

You were named to the Verizon Academic All-District Team twice. How difficult has it been to balance your academics with being an athlete?
It's been difficult but when you want to be the best at both, you do whatever you have to do.

What has been your favorite moment as a UB athlete?
Last year at the MACs (Mid-American Conference Outdoor Championships), I wasn't competing but all the athletes that I came in with, it was their senior year. Watching them compete and being able to cheer for them and the whole team, it was really good how we all came together as a team.

"The 10 Questions With" feature is compiled by Joe Guistina.