McDonald Building Her Place Among Strong Group of Throwers
Rams' women plan on strong showing at Mountain West Championships
For some women’s teams in the Mountain West, the throws are events at the conference meet where they hope to steal some points.
Not at Colorado State. No, the Rams’ women treat the events more like a supermarket at the front end of a pandemic, a place to gather and hoard points for the long haul.
When the Mountain West Championships begin Thursday in Clovis, Calif., coach Brian Bedard’s men’s and women’s teams will do so as the defending champions, dating back to 2019 when the meet was last contested. Both teams will be strong contenders to retain the crown, and the women throwers plan on being a big part of the hunt.
They will enter with the top seed in the shot put, discus and hammer throw. It’s not just at the top where the Rams are potent, but they are loaded with depth. In the shot put, they own the top three seeds. In the discus, three of the top six and five in the top 10. In the hammer, they sit 1-2 and hold the nine spot.
“I’m super excited. These girls, we’ve been working our butts off, and I think its showing in our throws,” graduate student Maria Muzzio said. “Colorado State girls, we’re normally pretty good in the throws area, so I’m excited. I’m pumped.”
Muzzio, ranked atop the discus charts in the Mountain West, is part of an experienced crew of throwers for Bedard. She, Tarynn Sieg, Ashton Hallsted and Haley Showalter all have a strong collegiate resume, while Morgan Stewart and Gabi McDonald are really just starting to build theirs.
McDonald’s story is rather intriguing, considering where she sits in terms of her throwing career and the success she’s already experienced.
She came to Colorado State as a dual athlete, the idea being she would be on scholarship for soccer for two years, then move to track. Competing as a prep at Rocky Mountain High School in town, her focus was always on soccer, yet she still managed to place five times at state in the shot put and discus, winning a state discus championship.
She was also doing it all on a bothersome knee, one she never really had checked out by a doctor until after her freshman season of soccer. In short, she had a dislocated left knee cap, with her outside tendons too tight, the inside ones stretched too far.
She held off surgery until after her sophomore season of soccer, where she earned first-team All-Mountain West honors at goalie. She still had yet to really train as a thrower in track (her knee wouldn’t really allow her to handle the force), but that was about to change.
She had surgery, and then the pandemic hit, which in many respects was a silver lining for her. Physically, at least. Mentally, it was tough.
“It saved me. I was going to miss the full spring, so I got a medical redshirt for the indoor track season,” she said. “COVID-19 saved me from rehabbing too soon, because I didn’t have to worry about a track season, and soccer wasn’t going to start as early.
“They cleared me three months earlier than expected, but being cleared and being fully functional are completely different. That was crazy, especially because of the way soccer season ended my sophomore year. I was eager to get back and come back with a vengeance, but then it got delayed. Having that feeling inside of wanting to compete, that can be semi-satisfied with hard training, but I couldn’t do that either. I couldn’t be weight-bearing for two months.”
Colorado State girls, we’re normally pretty good in the throws area, so I’m excited. I’m pumped.Maria Muzzio
She lost 35 pounds of muscle mass, which she said took her about seven months to gain back. Then she continued to work and added on 10 more heading into her first real track season this spring.
“She’s been here three years, but really, this is the first time we’ve been able to work with her a full season, and we were still doing some injury or surgery rehab on the front end of it,” Bedard said. “It’s good to get that past us, and I’m sure she feels the same way.
“She’s a hard worker and did all the rehab. It’s good to see her back at full steam. We’re still not where we want to be. I think she can be a really good hammer thrower; she doesn’t necessarily believe it, but I see it. She’s got to kind of buy into that, but I also don’t want to spread her too thin where I have her doing too much, but with the talented ones it’s hard to resist that.”
The other part is Bedard doesn’t fully trust McDonald’s knee yet, though she does. Most remarkable is with so much still to learn, she will head to the Mountain West Championships with the top mark in the shot put, fourth in the discus.
People have told her for years she would be a really good thrower if she put some real training into it, and now she’s starting to believe them. It has her excited for this meet, and those which will follow in the years to come. She understands her biggest gains will come when she can get her techniques polished.
“Throwing is one of those never-ending pursuits of perfection,” she said. “It’s crazy, because it’s not so reactive. In soccer, I can get away with being athletic and having reactive pieces. In track, it’s just you, it’s not reactive. It’s putting in the preparation and the time and hoping it comes out in meets. It’s crazy different.
“I have so much more to go. I’m having big PRs that were beyond their due date because I’m able to use my legs now. I’m able to get down on the legs, put those in my throws, too, and that’s different.”
What Bedard and her teammates see is an athlete loaded with potential, which is often a dirty word in coaching circles. What encourages him in McDonald’s case is the work ethic she brings to practice. She also brings her mouth, noting her parents named her aptly.
On this, Muzzio just smiles.
“She knows the time when to be quiet, like in awkward moments or when it’s more sensitive,” Muzzio said. “She likes to lift people up. She’s extremely positive and supporting. I don’t think I’ve had a teammate that’s that supportive and positive. To me, I’m always like, ‘you’re a little too much at times, but I’m also thinking this is good, we need this. Some days we have kind of down days, and others are up days. Either way, she’s always in there with a super-high, supportive mindset, and it’s fresh to see at times.”
McDonald also uses her ears, because in the framework of the group, they are often her best teachers. She’s smart that way, because what she wants to become, they are already.
Muzzio has three All-Mountain West honors to her credit and was the conference champion in the discus in 2018. Sieg is an indoor track All-American, a four-time All-Mountain West performer, has won three conference indoor championships and is the only female in school history to rank among the top 10 in all four throws.
The competition at home is as strong as they see at most meets, which Muzzio feels gives their group a huge lift, personally and in the team standings.
For one, as she sets her target on a pair of 55s – meters in the discus, feet in the shot put – she is counting on her teammate’s competitive nature to drive hers. She knows the better she throws, the more it will drive others in the green and gold.
“It will help a lot. We do have some good athletes from Utah State and San Diego State, and it also depends on which throwing event,” Muzzio said. In discus, some of us are top three, some in the lower half. Even then, were going to be pushing each other and supporting each other, so hopefully we come out on top again.”
While she may have only been able to train for the first time this season, McDonald has been around all of them for a few years. There was so much to learn from watching them, not only while they threw, but how they approached the weight room.
Seeing the results, it was clear there was an expectation she would have to try to live up to in Bedard’s group.
“It kind of sets the standard. I think it’s just human nature. You’re settled in when you’re the best and you don’t have to fight for certain things. But to come in with that group, seeing what they’re doing in the weight room and out here in competition, she wants to get in the mix. She’s so competitive, she wants to win, so that just elevates everybody standard.”
Old and new. Storied career or just beginning. All are expected to do their part.
In Clovis, the women throwers at Colorado State intend to get their point across, and that happens by collecting as many as they can in a limited number of events.
It’s never too soon to build a resume, never too late to add to one, either.