Joe Fletcher
Equinox Staff
The Keene State track and field team traveled to Springfield, Massachusetts, last weekend to compete at the American International College (AIC) Invitational meet. It was there that junior thrower Shannon Parks broke her own school record in the shot put. According to Parks, breaking her own record that day was not something she was expecting considering the way Parks was throwing that day.
“My shot put throws weren’t where I wanted them to be so I haven’t broken 12 (meters) since my first two meets,” Parks said. “Something just clicked and I just got it out there and it felt really good.”
The junior from Reading, Massachusetts, didn’t even consider track and field to be a sport she would thrive in. It took an upperclassman from high school to help show her the way.
“I did soccer in the fall [in high school] and I was looking for a sport to do in the spring to stay in shape and a senior at the time told me, ‘You should do track, I throw on the team,’ and so I did it and I just really liked it and I ended up pretty decent at it, if I say so myself,” said Parks.
Her throwing coach, Keene State’s track and field assistant coach Dante Hill, is fascinated about her drive and how she’s able to make adjustments to make herself better.
“It’s very impressive how quick she can pick up things, these little details I try to point out to her, she picks it up pretty quickly,” Hill said. “Now it’s just getting the reps in, getting her comfortable. She has this drive where she sees somebody better, she doesn’t like that. She wants to beat everybody that she can beat.”
Parks acknowledges that she has benefited from the training she has been doing with Coach Hill, saying that she feels stronger than ever and ready for any competition that steps in her way.
“I’ve worked with Dante, who’s the new throwing coach, and he’s phenomenal,” Parks said. “We’ve been doing a lot more lifting in the weightroom so I’ve been building that up a lot too so I’m very excited for what’s to come.”
Senior thrower on the track and field team Naomi Murzin was also feeling some excitement at the AIC track meet. When she saw her fellow thrower and best friend finally break her record after working so hard, she couldn’t feel anything but joy.
“I was ecstatic,” Murzin said. “She’s been working for it and she was definitely getting frustrated because she wasn’t getting the results she wanted and then she finally got it so I was very excited for her.”
When asked if Shannon plans on trying to break her record next season, she was still focusing on the task at hand for this year.
“Oh, I plan on breaking it again this season,” Parks said. “I have a few more meets so I plan on breaking it a few more times.”
Breaking her shot put record isn’t the only goal she has in mind, either.
“I have plans on breaking the hammer record this season. Well, that’s my hope is to break it,” Parks said. “That’s the goal: to break the record and hopefully go to nationals.”
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