Stop, Hammer Time!
Division III top-ranked thrower and neuroscientist, Kendra Noneman, heads to nationals
At the Carnegie Mellon University Invitational on March 25, Kendra Noneman, a Ph.D. student in the Program in Neural Computation, approached the throwing circle with her dance partner, "Stanley," an 8.82-pound metal ball attached to a steel wire. She named it after Stanley Kirk Burrell, better known as the rapper, MC Hammer.
Effortlessly, she launched Stanley a whopping 60.15 meters, setting a Carnegie Mellon record, propelling her to the top spot in Division III and securing her place in the upcoming NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships on May 26-28 in Geneva, Ohio. Not too shabby, given that she and Stanley hadn't practiced in almost two years after transferring to CMU from Boise State University.
"After my final competition at Boise State in February 2020, I had major shoulder surgery. I thought my collegiate career was finished, and I was okay with that," Noneman said. "I was very excited about coming to Carnegie Mellon in the fall of 2020 to further my education. I reached out to Coach [Gary] Aldrich only to introduce myself and to see if he needed any volunteers or help. I had no intention of competing again."
The initial conversation between Noneman and Aldrich, the head coach for the Tartan track and field team, did not include any of her accomplishments from Boise State; however, Aldrich quickly uncovered her impressive throwing resume. He was taken back by her credentials, which included multiple first-place finishes. Of particular interest was a throw of 60.14 meters at Border Clash 2019.