After her first throw collided with her leg just before the launching point, she stepped into the circle again with the scorching Arizona heat bearing down on her.
Her teammate, freshman Andrew Miller, and coach, Cory Martin, looked on as McClinton torqued through three smooth turns.
On her fourth turn, she released the hammer.
Scaling down the left sector line, the hammer dropped near the boundary.
Fair.
The final result was 59.66 meters, an IU women’s hammer throw record. But McClinton wasn’t satisfied.
Her goal was 60 meters, a mark that would surely cement her name into national contention at the end of the season.
She failed to reach the length on her four ensuing throws.
“It’s really cool, setting a school record, and I’ve had to keep telling myself that because I really wanted 60 meters,” said McClinton, who broke two-time Big Ten Champion Faith Sherrill’s ?record of 58.46 meters.
“Never settle” is the creed of IU track and field coaches and players. Even after breaking records, athletes continue to strive for better results.
McClinton joins junior pole vaulter Sophie Gutermuth and sophomore Tre’tez Kinnaird as the three athletes to break school records this season.
They all continue to set personal records.
“You’re going to be talking to her a lot in the future,” Miller said of McClinton. “I’ve seen her throw so much farther in practice, and she’s only getting better.”
Miller and McClinton train and compete in a throwing group that is young to say the least.
The oldest member, redshirt senior M.J. Doan, is the lone upperclassman. Martin is in his first tenured year as the throws coach for the ?program.
But youth does not keep IU from throwing long ?distances.
McClinton, the leading women’s thrower, took home her third victory of the season with her record hammer throw at the Pac-12 vs. Big Ten Invitational and ended her indoor season with a fifth-place finish in the Big Ten women’s weight throw.
Miller began his collegiate career with four second-place finishes, 10 top-10 finishes, and, most recently, a 30-foot personal record in the hammer throw at Arizona State.
His throw of 64.31 meters stands as the third-best throw in IU history.
“It’s a blessing and a curse,” Martin said of the group’s youth. “It’s great that I have the time to mold them into what I want them to look like, but there are growing pains along the way.”
Growing pains have shown up at times on the result sheet, especially in the shot put, where Miller has not placed in an invitational top 10.
McClinton failed to finish in the top 10 of the shot put twice, her only sub-10 throws of the season.
Both athletes continue to improve, however, as both set new personal records at Hoosier Hills, their final home meet in mid-February.
Martin owns the No. 16 shot put throw on the all-time world performance list with his throw of 22.10 meters at the 2010 Tucson Elite Throwers Classic, and Miller said that experience has helped.
“I was at a standstill from my marks in high school last year,” said Miller, who trained with the program as a redshirt athlete in 2014. “Now I’ve improved my throw by about 30 feet. Coach Martin is an essential part of my improvement and hopefully will be in the future as well.”
Martin, a Bloomington native, spent his collegiate track and field career at Auburn University, where he was named an All-American nine times and captured National Championships in the shot put (20.35 meters) and hammer throw (74.13 ?meters) in 2008.
“Coach Martin has us on the lifting schedule that he had when he threw,” said McClinton, who lifted for three hours with the throwers Tuesday. “It’s nice because he knows how we feel, so we can really connect with him and trust him.”
The decorated throwing coach finished as the runner-up in the 2013 USA Indoor Championships. He qualified for the 2013 World Championships in Moscow but did not place.
“I just really try to bring my experience as a thrower to coaching,” Martin said. “It’s like being a mad scientist. I can just move things around and adjust to the athletes for what’s best for them. I love seeing the kids get ?better.”
