Setting her goals high

Challenging for school records in the shot put and discus a year ago wasn’t in the realm of possibility for Kristine Leonard.

She made measurable strides during the season, but the Lakeland High thrower finished the year well short of the school records even though she took third in the State 4A meet in both events.

Leonard, a senior, set her goals high this year. She not only wants to break the school records but wants to capture a pair of state titles.

What started as a dream a year ago is well within her grasp.

Her season bests last year were 38 feet, 3 inches in the shot put and 119-9 in the discus. Both came in the same meet, the Inland Empire League championships – three weeks before state. At the IEL meet, Leonard topped her previous best in the discus by 10 feet and extended her best in the shot by 6 inches.

At the state meet, she threw 113-4 in the discus and 37-8 in the shot.

The fact she didn’t improve the final three weeks of the season left her largely unfulfilled.

Leonard has left her 2007 bests in the rearview mirror this spring. She heaved the discus 129-9 at the Interstate Rivals Invitational at Central Valley on April 12 – the warmest day of the spring so far – and threw the shot 39-10 Friday at the Lakeland Relays on one of the coldest days this season. Her discus best ranks first in the state among 4A throwers and her shot is second, 2 inches behind the 4A leader.

The school records in the discus and shot are 132-4 and 41-2 1/2, respectively.

Lakeland has three more regular-season meets remaining before the state-qualifying Region I meet. State is May 22-24 in Boise.

“I’ve been much, much more consistent this year,” Leonard said.

Lakeland coach Lee Libera agreed.

“That’s what I like the most,” Libera said. “Even when she hasn’t thrown her best, she’s been consistently good.”

Leonard attended the Iron Wood Throwers Development Camp last summer. She attributes much of her improvement to the camp and individual coaching this spring from Iron Wood camp co-founder Bart Templeman and her father, Neil, who threw the hammer and shot in college at San Jose State and Nevada.

They helped Leonard smooth out some technical flaws.

“My dad has always told me about them (the flaws), but getting instruction from another perspective somehow has helped,” Leonard said. “I can see the perfect form in my head. When I’m not doing it right, I can feel it.”

She uses a spin approach in both throws. It’s somewhat risky and requires just the right speed in the ring for her to get her hips and arms moving in sync.

Getting the left hip through fast enough in both throws has been the biggest obstacle for Leonard.

“It is still a problem at times, but I’m getting better at it,” she said. “It’s the root of all problems.”

Besides the throws, Leonard has also done the 100-meter hurdles and participates on a couple of sprint relays.

Libera believes getting Leonard away from the throws and doing other events helps her.

“I’m not the smartest person in the world, but that’s something I insist on – our athletes doing multiple events,” Libera said. “Many of our best throwers have done other events.”

Libera also believes that having Leonard do other events keeps her fresh for the throws and keeps her from being bogged down by the technical aspects of those events.

“She’s got enough people telling her how to do things,” Libera said. “That’s the only thing I worry about. I tell her to concentrate on one thing, go warm up and throw. Sometimes you get too much information thrown at you.”

Leonard won’t do the hurdles the rest of the spring because both she and Libera don’t want her to get injured doing a secondary event. But she will run on the 800 relay and perhaps one other relay at regional.

This is Leonard’s first year in public school. She was home-schooled kindergarten through her junior year, but has adapted well at Lakeland. She carried a 4.0 grade-point average the first three years of home-schooled high school and that hasn’t changed at Lakeland.

She ranks No. 1 in the senior class academically, but doesn’t qualify for valedictorian or salutatorian status because she’s only attended Lakeland one year.

Leonard is a leader at school and her church. She leads a youth Bible study group and counts her faith as the primary influence in her life.

“It’s no longer my parents’ faith, it’s my faith,” Leonard said of her Christian walk. “I’ve been raised in church all my life. But at some point it has to become your faith, not your parents’ faith. That happened for me in eighth grade.”

Three months ago, Leonard began sponsoring a child through World Vision. Her monthly pledge of $30 provides food and other necessities for William, a 7-year-old boy in Ghana, West Africa. She carries a picture of William in her purse.

Leonard sees herself involved in some sort of ministry where she can make an impact on people and make a living after college.

To that end, she would like to see how far throwing the discus and shot can take her. If she can get the discus over 130 and the shot over 40 feet, she figures she’ll attract some interest from colleges.

First, though, she would like one warm day in the final meets of the season to see how far she could throw.

“I’m right there. I know I can break the (school) records,” she said. “My form is so much better. I’m fouling less than I was last year. It’s all because of better form, better balance. It all starts at the beginning in both throws. If you’re out of balance, so many things can go wrong.”