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Hard work pays off for KHS grad
Freya Block becomes first division-one athlete to become All-American in Kewanee High School history.
Matt Carlson
Sports Editor
From a little farm girl who didn’t want to do track, to an All-American, it’s been quite the journey for Freya Block.
She started throwing shot put and discus in sixth grade while she attended Neponset grade school. Track and field was not something that sounded very appealing to her and she had to be talked into joining by some of her peers.
“There’s a lot of running, that doesn’t sound like fun,” she recalled. “My brother had done it and he hated it so I figured I was going to hate it too. But I was really good at it so I just kept going.”
As a sixth grader, she was competitive against kids that were a year or two older than her and she realized this is something she was pretty good at. She credits growing up on a farm as giving her an early edge against the rest of the competition. From carrying buckets of water around to throwing around bails of hay, she developed a natural strength that most kids did not have yet at that age.
“I was always trying to help around the farm so that definitely helped in junior high and the first couple years of high school since I was probably stronger than most others,” she said.
During junior high and high school, Block threw both shot put and discus and had instant success. She went to state all four years of her high school career including a second place finish in both shot put, and discus her senior year.
She made it to state her freshman year, but didn’t advance past the opening round. Her sophomore year, she made the final round placing sixth overall. Her junior year she made it to state but didn’t advance to the finals and then her senior year she finished second. It wasn’t until the end of her senior year that she was even introduced to the hammer throw.
“I didn’t even know what it was,” she said with a laugh.
For those who don’t know, the hammer throw is where the athlete has a metal ball which is attached to a steel wire and grip, and they spin around a few times while building velocity and throw the ball as far as possible.
Her high school coach, Carl Anderson, was the one who introduced her to this throwing technique.
Hammer throw is not an IHSA regulated sport so Block didn’t start doing it until she got ready for college.
When she first started attempting it, she was throwing around 140-150 feet. By the time she was a senior in college,
her longest throw was 218 feet.
The 70 foot increase in distance was a result of improved technique, but also a lot of weight lifting and physical training.
Block attended Southern Illinois University in Carbondale and walked on the track and field team.
Once the official NCAA athletic season began, the vigorous training followed.
“We dove straight in,” Block said. “There was no putting your toe in the water.”
She started out doing the full workouts right away, but not as heavy of weight as most of her peers. Fast forward a year and a half, and she was bench pressing around 300 pounds.
Similar to high school, her college career was up and down.
Her freshman year, she made it to the USATF (United States of America Track and
Freya Block finished seventh overall in the hammer throw competition at the
2017 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
Field) Nationals. This is a nationwide event for athletes under the age of 20. She placed third overall in the hammer throw competition.
Her sophomore year, she earned all-conference honors thanks to her third place finish at the conference meet.
Block’s junior year was a bit of a down year, but it all came together her senior year. She won the conference championship for hammer throw and made it to the national track and field meet for the first time.
“The meet was a really cool experience,” she said. “It was huge.”
She opened the meet with a throw of 204 feet, and failed to improve on that for her second attempt.
Her first two throws were good compared to what she had been throwing for the most part of the season, but she sat outside of the top 9, which advanced to the final round.
“I was so nervous,” she recalled. “I just sat down and was just trying to breathe.”
For her final throw of the round, she ripped off a throw of 211 feet and 10 inches to advance her to the final round, making her an All-American.
She ended up finishing seventh overall in the event.
“It’s funny, I was a little disappointed at first,” she said. “The athlete in me was like, ‘dang, I wanted to get second or third.”
Looking back, she is very happy with the result. “It’s pretty awesome,” she said with a smile.
Block was a graduate of Kewanee High School in 2013. She already has her bachelor’s degree in general agriculture and will obtain her master’s degree in agribusiness economics by December of this year.
As her college career comes to an end, her track and field career will also be coming to an end.
“It’s bittersweet, but I’m so glad I did it. I have no regrets whatsoever,” the All-American said. “I’m okay with starting my career and that’s what I’ve been planning for.”
With a desire and work ethic like hers, there’s no doubt that this farm girl from Neponset will be successful with whatever she does in life.
Matt Carlson
 
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