By Christopher Hunt
Lancaster’s Melissa Kurzdorfer is two weeks off of the best performance of her storied high school career. She called it a breakthough.
The senior broke the state record in the shot put, tossing 49 feet, 9.5 inches before dominating the discus and later the hammer throw. She broke three meet records at the Hartford Public Invitational in Connecticut in one of the most commanding all-around throwing performances in recent memory. She didn’t take any time to revel in it.
“Still not good enough,” she said. “I’m still not where I want to be. Before Hartford, I got my head out of my butt.”
Before she erased all the throwing meet records in Hartford Kurzdorfer admitted she was suffering from the most common of athletic disorders for athletes her age: Senioritis.
Kurzdorfer said she had been going through the motions in practice, not focusing on her drills, looking forward to her freshman season at Kent State next year until her coach, George Rak, sat her down.
“I think part of her has already moved on,” Rak said. “But what I talked to her about and what I explained to her was that we have unfinished business here. We haven’t worked as hard as we have for the past six years to have it end like that.”
The best cure for senioritis has always been a reality check. Kurzdorfer put herself in a championship mindset. Kurzdorfer became to visualize weeks before her went to Connecticut. She started studying more video. She looked online for pictures of the facility so that she could see the cage.
Kurzdorfer analyzed herself in practice and visualized herself in the throwing circle. She pictured herself being aggressive, finishing her throws, exploding at the end the circle.
(photo on right courtesy TullyRunners.com)
“It sounds stupid but you see the throw,” she said. “You feel the throw. You going through all the phases.”
But she couldn’t have seen what would happen. First she broke the state record in the shot put, topping a 26 year-old record of 49.8.5 set by Bellport’s Cheryl Klein. She won the discus in 159-8 and then on her first throw in her the her first high school hammer throw competition, she launched the hammer 192-8 for a state record and the sixth-best throw in nation history.
“Nobody saw that coming, not even myself,” Kurzdorfer said. “At practice we have meet days because there’s no place for me to throw the hammer. Even there my best was around 187.”
The senior won the shot at the Falcon Invitational in Frontier, tossing beyond 49 feet (49-1) for the second time this season. And she set a lifetime best in the discus at 160-1. Kurzdorfer leads the state in all three events.
That fact is part of the reason Kurzdorfer was seeking inspiration at the start of the year. Her closest competition, North Bablyon’s Vanessa Stewart, is an eight-hour drive away at best.
“That’s why I can’t wait until college,” Kurzdorfer said. “I’m not the best in high school. My numbers don’t prove anything.
“Those girls down South and out West get to see their competition all the time. I have to wait until states and nationals. It’s hard to compete against numbers. I mean, I can do it. I’ve been doing it.”
Kurzdorfer broke the indoor state record, tossing 50-6 in at a home meet February. She says she is looking to pop another 50-footer in the shot and even a 200-footer in the hammer. Rak said repeatedly that Kurzdorfer has unfinished business in her high school career. She has one goal that should take care of the rest.
“One of my biggest goals is to go down as one of the best female thrower in high school history,” she said. “I know I have work left to do.”
Reach Christopher Hunt at chunt@armorytrack.com.