Once You Know, You Know
Hawkins and Lesnar making noise as a duo
Mike Brohard
The thing about rumors and perceptions is both are shrouded in a bit of unknown.
They were for Brian Bedard, who quite possibly -- most definitely, according to Michaela Hawkins – overblew her supposed “hatred” of Mya Lesnar. They were for Hawkins, who had made a snap assessment of Lesnar while beating her for the 2019 Minnesota state discus title.
As for Lesnar’s part?
“My side of the story is when I went to Arizona State, I kinda forgot,” she said. “Who is Michaela Hawkins?”
She’ll never forget again. Bedard, to his end and that of the team, had to throw them together when Lesnar came on an official visit. Since then, nobody can tear them apart as they spend most of their time together finishing sentences, laughing out loud with and at each other and telling jokes which have a tendency to make people blush.
Even their coach.
“I think they’re hilarious and not politically correct most of the time. They’re a very bad influence on me,” Bedard said. “I’m not always the one who reigns it back in, but one of us always does when they start going off on some weird tangent and giving each other a hard time. We still have to get some work done.
“I always want to have some element of fun out here. We do listen to some music, we do share in some laughs, and when somebody is having a big day, we cheer for them. It is so frustrating at times, and you can get stuck in a rut and lose the joy in practice and competing, and we always want to have some perspective this is actually supposed to be fun. Even though we are getting challenged and staying in the process, we keep it fun.”
The first day just wasn’t fun for Hawkins, not with the introduction Bedard provided when he and Lesnar entered the indoor facility for Hawkins to start showing Lesnar around campus and town.
The back story. Both of them were state champions in Minnesota, Hawkins a year older. She was from a suburb of St. Paul, Lesnar from Alexandria, about two hours away out in “the sticks” as they describe the place in unison.
Hawkins always liked to chat it up with other throwers, and she knew all of them around the big schools. Just not Lesnar, or her teammate, who always stuck close to each other, and in reality, felt apart from those from the bigger schools.
“Me and McKenzie Duwenhoegger, who is now a thrower at Duke, we’d go back and forth between records at our high school, so we kinda just kept to ourselves,” Lesnar said. “I always felt like we were away from the city folks when we competed other than the really big meets. When we’d go there, it was like me and her against all these city people. Michaela is like the only one I really remember having to work hard to compete against.”
In 2019, Hawkins won the discus, with Lesnar and Duwenhoegger finishing 2-3. The Alexandria duo finished 1-2 in the shot, with Lesnar winning the title. But that quiet approach, away from the others, hit Hawkins wrong.
“A lot of the throwers in Minnesota, our friends around St. Paul, I would talk to a lot of different throwers from different schools. We tried to talk to the Alexandria girls, and they just didn’t talk,” she said. “They kept to themselves, and I took it as, ‘wow, they must hate us.’ I’m not saying she hated me, but it was a fun rivalry in my head.”
Perception. The reality wouldn’t come until later when their paths would cross years later at Colorado State after both had started at other schools.
I remember being surprised she was very talkative because I didn’t see her talk in high school. I thought I’d be driving around, and it would be silent, like, ‘how’s your day?’ No, we were blah, blah, blah. We hit it off pretty quickly.Michaela Hawkins
Hawkins had spoken of throwing back home and of the Lesnar girl who was really good but extremely quiet, making her want to beat her more. The rivalry she created in her head still existed. When Lesnar was looking for a new school, her immediate thought was Bedard and Colorado State.
And when somebody had to show her around, Bedard went directly to Hawkins. Mean? Maybe, but with purpose. And to hear Bedard recant the conversation, his version is Hawkins all but refused to be Lesnar’s host, including some rather emphatic language.
He still made her do it anyway, explaining he had to find out if they could make it work, because in the Colorado State throws group, friendships are not required, but mutual respect is demanded.
“That’s a requirement. We spend so much time with each other and travel together, that’s non-negotiable. They really need to get along,” Bedard said. “Whether you want to be best friends outside of track, maybe not, but when you’re here, you do everything you can to support your teammates and lift them up, and they’re expected to do the same for you. In a team environment, that works pretty well. I wholeheartedly support competition within the team, as long as it’s healthy and it makes people better. When it get unhealthy or negative, I don’t tolerate it.”
In Hawkins’ memory, she said no such thing. She did ask why but kept it cool. Either way, Bedard played off the story at the moment of introductions.
Much to Hawkins’ embarrassment.
“He’s so dramatic. I remember calling my parents, going, ‘you remember Mya Lesnar? Well, I’m giving her a tour,” Hawkins said. “Bedard walks her in, and I go to shake her hand. I was like, I hope he plays it cool. Then it’s, ‘Michaela has hated you for years.’ I’m like, oh, great, this is going to be a really crappy start. Thanks a lot.
“After Bedard’s whole spiel, I was driving her around Fort Collins in my clunky car. I remember being surprised she was very talkative because I didn’t see her talk in high school. I thought I’d be driving around, and it would be silent, like, ‘how’s your day?’ No, we were blah, blah, blah. We hit it off pretty quickly.”
As for Lesnar, she didn’t care because she had no such memory in her head from high school. She went, she competed, that was that. Which in the end is the part Hawkins finds more hurtful, something they still joke about.
“I honestly forgot,” said Lesnar, which Hawkins replies, ‘just keep digging the hole.’ “And then when I found out who was showing me around, I was like, Michaela Hawkins, that sounds very familiar. I was like, you’re (kidding) me. This feels like I’m going back to the state championship all over again.
“We both had been at our other schools for two years, so it was two years. Arizona State never made it up that far to compete with teams, so we would never see each other. That’s why I’d also forgotten the name because we never threw against North Dakota State.”
To bring the recall back into her mind, Lesnar checked out Hawkins’ Instagram, where she found a photo of them on the state podium together.
“It’s pretty easy to spot Mya Lesnar, the whitest one on the podium,” Lesnar quipped.
As for the car ride around town, Lesnar remembers “we never shut up,” and ask anyone around the throws venue, they never do. Not all of them are like that, but there are a few. Gabi Morris, for one.
Bedard just wanted them to be civil to each other. Now, they are inseparable.
They clicked, for reasons Hawkins didn’t get a chance to see in high school.
“I’d say we match up because we both have really big personalities, and sometimes big personalities clash, but for the most part, we line up and our humor is very raunchy, very aggressive,” said Hawkins, with Lesnar insisting Bedard adds another layer.
“Gabi is right there. There’s different levels of big personalities. We’re more on the raunchy side, and she’s a little more put together but still a big personality. She’s a team leader and when she’s not there, you know – ‘we’re a little unhinged,’ Lesnar adds. She at least keeps some professionalism.”
Which in the end is the fun part for Hawkins. She not only found a friend, but realized it was a growth moment.
I never thought it would be like this, this type of relationship. I didn’t expect her to be who she was. I didn’t know how unhinged she could be.Mya Lesnar
The small sample size she had with Lesnar back in high school was somewhat accurate, but not entirely true. Yes, Lesnar is quiet at competitions, which Hawkins now knows is how Lesnar acts at every competition. She has to be in that solitary mode to be at her best.
“That was a cool experience for me as a person. I love on some levels we are there,” Hawkins said. “On other levels, it’s, ‘you said this, you did what?’ That’s what makes it fun.
“Now it makes sense. I’ve had other people from other teams – this was a full-circle moment for me – people from other teams will walk up to me and say, ‘that Mya girl is really mean.’ I’ll be huh, that’s exactly what I thought, but no. This is just how she competes. She’s really a ball of energy.”
While Bedard considers them to be a comedy show ready to explode at any moment at practice, he appreciates they know when it is time to work. Additionally, they know how to read a room and understand time and place. Say, like a visit to President Amy Parsons’ house to celebrate the indoor championship. Both were downright proper ladies in the moment.
He loves the fact Lesnar will say anything that pops into her mind. He finds joy in knowing Hawkins will perform musical numbers for more than an hour at Brookdale Assisted Living. They do have big personalities, which he knew, and he doesn’t want to discourage either of them from being who they are.
Together, they can be a handful at times.
“For us, it’s a good thing. But other people probably get very annoyed,” Lesnar said. “But we don’t care.
“I never thought it would be like this, this type of relationship. I didn’t expect her to be who she was. I didn’t know how unhinged she could be. Even now that we’re at CSU, when we were at other schools, there were chances we had to make and find ourselves. Then you go to another school. That wasn’t easy, but I think it shaped us into the people we are now.”
They both live life out loud, but more to the point for the success of the team, they each are fierce competitors looking for titles. As the Mountain West Championships approach Thursday in Fresno, Calif., with the Rams women looking to defend their title, both rank in the top 10 nationally in their particular throw of choice. Lesnar is fourth in the shot put, an event she won the national title in during the indoor season; Hawkins sits fifth in the discus. Morris, their teammate, won both conference titles last year, with Lesnar and Hawkins each finishing in the top eight in both.
The fact they are so competitive, they feel their friendship avoids some pitfalls by each having an event to call their own. If they went head-to-head all the time, well, they both assert there would be a strain.
“I think it’s better for our personalities we have our own events. I don’t think we’d be as close,” Lesnar said. “I think the relationship would definitely be different. There would be things we would hold back on saying, or not talking about. Because I know nothing – truthfully – about the discus, I never tell her if she’s doing it right or wrong.”
This is the world they live in as Division I athletes, and nothing would make them give that up. But they also know they need to escape from it all at times, and when they are away from the track, they talk about anything other than technique, what Bedard said or any upcoming competition.
The key is getting Lesnar out of her house. Some call her an introvert, but the real truth is she’s just a homebody. If she’s out, she’s “a hoot and a half,” Hawkins said, but the key is not letting her go home. If she does, she’s not leaving.
When they’re together, everything fun is on the table.
“When we go out and do something outside of track, I think we have way more fun,” Lesnar said. “Sometimes, as much as our whole world revolves around being an athlete, sometimes we don’t want to talk about being an athlete. We don’t let it eat away at us. I know that both of us will not throw far if we let it totally consume our whole life.
“You need balance in your life.”
Which they give each other, very loudly most of the time. They talk for one another, laugh loudest at the expense of the other, or themselves.
A year ago, the rumors would have insinuated it wasn’t possible. Same with old perceptions.
As they’ve found, the reality of the situation – and the relationship which grew – is more powerful and provides quite the punchline.