To throw the discus, which she currently does better than anyone else in Div. III, Kelly Allen begins standing at the rear edge of the thrower's circle, with her back to her target. With the disc in her right hand, Allen, who graduates today with a major in child development, begins rocking her six-foot frame to and fro in order to build momentum. In a flash, she launches herself into a powerful pirouette before letting the discus fly - farther than anyone else has thrown it in school history.
Allen knew that she would make a name for herself in discus upon her arrival at Tufts four years ago. At Norton High School, she'd thrown the discus over 140 feet, which was farther than the former Tufts record in the event.
As a Jumbo, though, Allen has transformed herself into a force in five events -adding the hammer, the 20-pound weight throw, and the javelin to her high school repertoire of discus and shot put.
Her list of collegiate athletic accomplishments is endless: eight career NESCAC Championships in individual events, including victories in the shot put, discus and hammer this spring; Div. III New England indoor titles in shot put and weight throw in 2012; All-American honors as a top-eight discus thrower at Nationals from 2010-12, including a second-place finish at Nationals in the discus last spring, to add to a slew of shattered Tufts records, including a 163-foot-6-inch discus throw in 2012 which is nearly 30 feet farther than the second-longest throw in the school's history.
Allen is at the forefront of a formidable graduating class of throwers. Joining Allen at Nationals at Wisconsin-La Crosse next weekend will be Sabienne Brutus, who graduates today with a degree in political science, and Ronke Oyekunle, who graduates today with a degree in economics.
Together, the Tufts throwers helped propel the track and field team as a whole to a landslide NESCAC Championship this spring, the Jumbos' first since 1988.
"She's definitely created a more competitive culture within the throwers' group, in terms of performance, but also work ethic and setting high goals," coach Kristen Morwick said. "It's rubbed off on the rest of the team. It's irreplaceable."
Allen's work ethic was put to the test early on in her Tufts career when her throwing coaches, Lisa Wallin and Jon LeClair, worked with her to change her technique. As a raw, talented freshman, Allen would come out of the back of the circle too fast, not slowing down enough to access the full power of her body and accelerate through the end of the throw, Wallin said.
Yet even as she was learning a new way to throw, as a freshman Allen made Nationals in the discus in 2010 and broke Tufts' record in the javelin with a throw of over 120 feet, a result of her ruthless competitive streak.
"If someone throws farther than Kelly, then I know she's going to respond by throwing farther than them, based on sheer will. That's how it's been," Wallin said.
Wallin described Allen as an extremely hard worker, who, during the spring of her junior year often did workouts alone and late at night, after returning from her job teaching kindergarten at Graham & Parks in Cambridge, as part of a program in which Allen earned a Pre-K-2nd grade Massachusetts teaching license that she hopes to use after graduation.
The hours in the circle and weight room paid off: Allen's form has steadily improved over her career and so have her results. Yet even after all of the broken records and event victories, the most decorated thrower in Tufts history is not satisfied. Allen was barely cut from the NCAA list in the hammer during her sophomore year and for the shot put last spring, disappointments she uses as fuel during the grueling workouts that begin every June, months before the season.
The second-place showing in the discus at last year's Nationals particularly stings. The winning throw, from Mount Union's Aubree Jones, was 153 feet 10 inches - a distance Allen has often surpassed.
"So many people would love to even be at the meet, to be top-eight, to be an All-American, but I knew I could have thrown better. I was the only one at the meet who had thrown farther than that, who had thrown 160 feet, and I just didn't perform." Allen said.
Allen will get another shot at the discus title this weekend, and enters the event as confident as ever. This May, at Div. III New Englands, Allen threw the disc 162 feet 6 inches, which at time of press is the longest throw in Div. III this season by over six feet. She also expects to be one of the 22 competitors at Nationals in the hammer and shot put, the first time that she will compete in all three events on the national stage.
"To make it as Top 22 in the country in three events, I've worked my way there," Allen said. "It's going to be icing on the cake to throw three straight days in Wisconsin and call it a collegiate career."
