ASHWAUBENON (NBC 26) — Ashwaubenon High School is home to one of the nation’s top track and field athletes, but she’s more than just an athlete.
“You can look at my stats and say I’m a good athlete, but just knowing that people recognize that I put effort into my community and academics and things like that — it’s really, really rewarding to be recognized for more than just my results,” said Ashwaubenon, who will soon be a senior at Thea Kral.
Kral’s coaches knew right away that she would be exceptional in the discus throw and shot put.
“Believe it or not, her freshman year, the first week, we were doing wall drills and (assistant coach Dan Schmidt) and I talked and thought she could be good,” Jaguars assistant track and field coach Tyler Genovese said.
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Kral dominates the shot put and discus, winning the Division 1 discus title two years in a row, as well as the shot put title last season.
“Knowing that from the moment the ball leaves your fingers, you know you made a good shot is something really special,” Kral said.
It takes more than just strength to be a dominant pitcher.
“It’s incredibly precise,” Kral said. “There are so many little things you can change to make a throw better or worse, and most of it is technical, and most of it is mental, and you have to be strong to throw well, but most of it is practice and working on muscle memory.”
Her tough work not only earned her victory in every throwing event at the state level this year, but also earned her the title of Wisconsin Gatorade Female Athlete of the Year.
“I saw I was Gatorade Player of the Year, and I ran and told my mom, and we were screaming,” the thrower said. “It was just the best thing that ever happened.”
But winning the award doesn’t mean you’re just a great athlete. It’s also about academic excellence and exemplary character. Kral excels in academics and volunteers as a lifeguard at the Salvation Army Kroc Center, ringing bells on behalf of the charity during the holiday season.
“I feel truly honored to have these opportunities and it brings me so much joy to help the community around me feel as special as I feel every day,” she said.
And according to her coaches, this is just the beginning of the great things she will achieve.
“She’s just such a great girl, it’s great to be able to coach her,” Genovese said.
“It’s been a fantastic journey and I think the best is yet to come. We’re seeing that next step in flexibility and strength and just fine-tuning that technique and it’s going to be really cool to watch her not only next year but where her career and the next chapter of her throwing takes her,” Schmidt said.
