Every athlete’s goal going into their sports season is to keep improving and peak at the right time. Making that possible, though, doesn’t happen without going through a process.

“[It’s about] buying into what we preach and going out and performing,” said Glenn Smith, ISU assistant track and field coach.

Junior thrower Henry Kelley knows about hard work and offseason preparation as a field event athlete.

Kelley began his time here at Iowa State as a redshirt in his first season. That initial year allowed him to take a year to focus on improving and becoming adapted to new events.

Collegiate throwers are able to compete in two events in addition to shot put and discus. The weight throw and the hammer throw are added to the event possibilities, with the weight throw happening during the indoor season and hammer throw in the outdoor portion.

Kelley has competed in all four during his collegiate career, but there was one event during the ISU Classic that specifically etched him in ISU history forever: the weight throw.

On the first day of competition, Kelley was able to show his improvement he strived for in the off-season with a throw of 17.94 meters.

After the foul on his first throw, Kelley improved each throw with his final mark solidifying him in fifth place and the eighth best throw in Iowa State history.

“The end result could not have gone better after, technically, a really slow start,” Kelley said. “Throw after throw it started to clean up more and more.”

The throw also became a personal record for Kelley making the ISU Classic a meet where 11 Cyclones recorded personal records in their respective events.

“I want to take the momentum into the Big 12 conference meet and score as many points as possible for my team,” Kelley said.

Kelley and the rest of the Iowa State team will be looking for even more improvements as they hit road for the USA Indoor Championships in Albuquerque, N.M. Some of the athletes will also travel to the UNI – Dome Classic in Cedar Falls, Iowa and the Alex Wilson Invitational in South Bend, Ind.

“The technical things I have picked up are working,” Kelley said of his progress. “It has been able to translate really well into meets and I hope to continue improving.”