Hardy is ‘Finding Joy in the Journey’
Jan 20, 2026 | Track & Field, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
There's a story Monique Hardy likes to tell. Well, she was actually bashful in telling the tale for the first time in February 2022, when the native of Webster, New York, a city that borders the southeastern shoreline of Lake Ontario and is a two-hour ferry ride from Toronto, let fly an achievement drenched in humility. As a senior at Webster Thomas High School, Hardy recorded a weight throw of 66 feet, 11 ¼ inches at the 2020 Millrose Games in New York City.
Exactly how far was it?
It was the second-farthest throw by a female high school athlete in American history.
Only the COVID pandemic could prevent Hardy from a chance to set the all-time high school weight throw record. COVID hit one week before she seemed destined to become the best high school weight thrower in American history in the championships.
It's the record that got away, but there are assuredly more record-setting opportunities to come for Hardy, now a graduate student at K-State, who is earning her master's degree in business administration, and who is earning her PhD in the weight throw.
Hardy, giggly on the phone, yet locked-in when she gets into the ring, said late last week that she wanted to "just go out and have fun" and "top my mark in last year's opener" in the Thane Baker Invitational at the Cliff Rovelto Indoor Track — the first meet of the NCAA indoor season.
On Friday, she danced and vibed with her K-State teammates, found her rhythm, fed off the energy inside one of the nicest indoor venues in the United States, and then proceeded to deliver a winning throw of 21.70 meters to break her own weight throw facility record — almost two inches farther than her throw in the Steve Miller Invitational in 2024.
"I was ecstatic," she said. "I wasn't super surprised just because my training has been going so well, but to see those bigger marks makes me hungrier. When you're having fun, you typically throw farther. When I'm dancing around, having a good time, and the energy is high, that means I'm preparing for something big, and that's exciting."
Hardy's big season debut lifted her to No. 9 in the weight throw in the NCAA rankings — just two meters from catching Minnesota's Anthonett Nabwe for No. 1 in the NCAAs. Hardy is off to a stellar start after finishing last season as a Second Team All-American in both the weight and hammer throw.
"I'm really, really proud of Mo," K-State Director of Track and Field Travis Geopfert said. "The success from last year, you can see the confidence in competing stacking upon itself. She's really coming into her own. She's super coachable, competing, and finding joy in the journey. She's diving into that and consequently the results are going to come."
Hardy will take center stage again on January 30 in the DeLoss Dodds Invitational, which will feature Oklahoma, Baylor, Iowa State, Oklahoma State, USC, Nebraska and Air Force, while many Olympians will compete as well. The meet will also serve as a part of the 2026 World Athletics Indoor Tour featuring six field events showcasing the sport's best athletes, including Olympians, World Championship Medalists and NCAA All-Americans.
More than 100 K-State track and field alumni are expected to attend, including former head coach Cliff Rovelto.
"On Friday, I had three fouls, and those throws were significantly farther, so it's exciting to see what the DeLoss Dodds meet is going to hold," Hardy said. "Having more competition pushes me a lot more. I'm competing with myself and looking to grow. This makes me very, very excited for the meet."
It's been quite a journey for Hardy.
The passion began in the eighth grade. That's when Hardy began official competition in track and field. She started competing in hurdles. Then she picked up a shot put. In the eighth grade she threw the shot put distances that would've ranked among the farthest by any high school athlete in America. Then she gravitated toward the weight throw and hammer throw. In her words, she just "clicked quickly." She finished out her high school career winning 20 of her final 21 weight throw competitions.
Greg Watson, assistant coach for throws at LSU, was the first Division I coach to call Monique. Watson was entering his third season with the Tigers. He previously served as assistant throws coach at K-State from 2013-18.
Of course, every other SEC school came calling shortly after, along with UCLA, Penn State and Texas. But Hardy was hooked on LSU. And she did not disappoint. As a freshman, she competed solely in the weight throw indoors. She became the second female in LSU history to be named SEC Women's Freshman Field Athlete of the Year indoors. She recorded the second-best throw in LSU history with a toss of 71 feet, 11 ½ inches. She finished fourth at the SEC Champions with a heave of 70 feet, 10 ½ inches, then she finished ninth in the NCAA Indoor Championships with an effort of 70 feet, 6 ½ inches, as the only freshman in the nation to make it to nationals in the event.
When Watson returned as throws coach at K-State, Hardy, who had never been to Manhattan, put her name into the transfer portal in hopes of being reunited with Watson.
As a sophomore at K-State, Hardy finished 22nd in the hammer throw at the NCAA West Preliminary after finishing fourth in the Big 12 Championships. She also finished fourth in the weight throw at the Big 12 Championships. As a junior, she finished 13th in the hammer throw at the NCAA West Preliminaries after winning the Big 12 Championship with a throw of 64.24 meters, almost three feet farther than the runner-up finish. It marked her fifth straight win in a hammer throw event. She also earned Second Team All-America honors in the weight throw with an 11th place finish in the NCAA Championships after winning the Big 12 Championship, becoming the first K-State athlete to win the weight throw title since 2019.
All the while, Hardy wasn't content with her performances.
"After having such a breakout freshman year at LSU and coming here, I had pressures number wise specifically to throw far and to stay and rise to the occasion every single time," Hardy said. "A lot of it was personal and external things because I'm my biggest critic every single day and wanted to be perfect. I just had to trust God. Not every day is going to be perfect.
"The stress and pressures are internal. Externally, everyone is rooting for you. Enjoying the process makes it special and it's a different type of stress — a good stress — to throw far at those meets."
She paused.
"Right now, all I can think of is the glory of God," she said. "This journey to where I'm at today has been filled with so many highs and lows. I don't really focus on the lows because the highs are just so great right now. My mental growth has been the biggest aspect to me and in trusting what I do every day. There are a lot of things behind the scenes. I give all the glory to God."
One big transition hit Hardy when Rovelto retired prior to the start of last year and Geopfert replaced him, quickly assembling a talented team of assistant coaches.
Hardy bade farewell to Watson after a five-year coach-athlete relationship between LSU and K-State, and she met John Newell, who was hired as the track and field associate head coach, overseeing throwers, on August 2, 2024. Newell brought 19 years of experience to K-State, including stops at Michigan State, Tennessee, Arkansas and Vanderbilt, and he coached five total Olympians, one national champion, 41 First Team All-Americans and 23 conference champions.
"He's very straight to the point, he's very chill, and he's a cool guy," Hardy said. "Once you get to know him, he's very relaxed and understanding. I talked with him about the future and what I wanted to accomplish. The big thing was Rome wasn't built in a day. We knew the transition and everything we'd work on wasn't going to be done in the first six months, getting used to each other and his coaching style. That was really, really important."
Last year, something clicked.
And Hardy became stronger than she ever had been in her life.
"I got strong," she said. "I've never been this strong in my life. That was really helpful. I found my throw and what was comfortable for me in the ring. That was the most important thing. If you watch the hammer throw, everybody has their own thing that makes them throw just a little bit farther. Just to be able to take reps every day and to be able to have different feels on a day-to-day basis is important. You have to find your niche and what makes your throw unique and what makes it travel far."
The result?
Hardy earned 2024 NCAA Second Team All-America honors in the weight throw and was a 2025 NCAA Second Team All-American in the hammer throw.
"She inherited a new coach last year, and with that there's always transition," Geopfert said. "She had a lot of success as a freshman and sometimes when you have a ton of success early in your career, anxiety, pressure and stress can come with that. She hasn't had a personal record until last year. Getting a new coach and the learning curve with that and then her ability to just relax and compete allowed her to have a personal best last year for the first time in three years. That was fantastic."
If her debut last Friday showed anything, there figures to be much more to come from Hardy this season.
"My confidence is through the roof," she said. "I'm shooting for First Team All-American, Big 12 Champion, but mostly enjoying the process, having fun and just throwing as far as I can. This is my last season, so I want to enjoy everything that comes with it.
"This next weekend is going to be really fun, seeing world-class competition and having a ton of schools come out. That's going to be really fun. It'll be a nice progression of where our training is going. It's going to be really exciting leading into the Big 12."
Once the second-best high school weight thrower in the country, Hardy is one of the best collegiate weight throwers in the country as well.
She's come a long way since the days of dominating high school track and field in Webster, New York.
"I've learned that you're stronger than you think you are," Hardy said. "I've learned to give 100% in everything you do, and most importantly, give all the glory to God in good days and in bad days. God always has a greater plan for you."
There's a story Monique Hardy likes to tell. Well, she was actually bashful in telling the tale for the first time in February 2022, when the native of Webster, New York, a city that borders the southeastern shoreline of Lake Ontario and is a two-hour ferry ride from Toronto, let fly an achievement drenched in humility. As a senior at Webster Thomas High School, Hardy recorded a weight throw of 66 feet, 11 ¼ inches at the 2020 Millrose Games in New York City.
Exactly how far was it?
It was the second-farthest throw by a female high school athlete in American history.
Only the COVID pandemic could prevent Hardy from a chance to set the all-time high school weight throw record. COVID hit one week before she seemed destined to become the best high school weight thrower in American history in the championships.
It's the record that got away, but there are assuredly more record-setting opportunities to come for Hardy, now a graduate student at K-State, who is earning her master's degree in business administration, and who is earning her PhD in the weight throw.
Hardy, giggly on the phone, yet locked-in when she gets into the ring, said late last week that she wanted to "just go out and have fun" and "top my mark in last year's opener" in the Thane Baker Invitational at the Cliff Rovelto Indoor Track — the first meet of the NCAA indoor season.
On Friday, she danced and vibed with her K-State teammates, found her rhythm, fed off the energy inside one of the nicest indoor venues in the United States, and then proceeded to deliver a winning throw of 21.70 meters to break her own weight throw facility record — almost two inches farther than her throw in the Steve Miller Invitational in 2024.
"I was ecstatic," she said. "I wasn't super surprised just because my training has been going so well, but to see those bigger marks makes me hungrier. When you're having fun, you typically throw farther. When I'm dancing around, having a good time, and the energy is high, that means I'm preparing for something big, and that's exciting."
Hardy's big season debut lifted her to No. 9 in the weight throw in the NCAA rankings — just two meters from catching Minnesota's Anthonett Nabwe for No. 1 in the NCAAs. Hardy is off to a stellar start after finishing last season as a Second Team All-American in both the weight and hammer throw.
"I'm really, really proud of Mo," K-State Director of Track and Field Travis Geopfert said. "The success from last year, you can see the confidence in competing stacking upon itself. She's really coming into her own. She's super coachable, competing, and finding joy in the journey. She's diving into that and consequently the results are going to come."
Hardy will take center stage again on January 30 in the DeLoss Dodds Invitational, which will feature Oklahoma, Baylor, Iowa State, Oklahoma State, USC, Nebraska and Air Force, while many Olympians will compete as well. The meet will also serve as a part of the 2026 World Athletics Indoor Tour featuring six field events showcasing the sport's best athletes, including Olympians, World Championship Medalists and NCAA All-Americans.
More than 100 K-State track and field alumni are expected to attend, including former head coach Cliff Rovelto.
"On Friday, I had three fouls, and those throws were significantly farther, so it's exciting to see what the DeLoss Dodds meet is going to hold," Hardy said. "Having more competition pushes me a lot more. I'm competing with myself and looking to grow. This makes me very, very excited for the meet."
It's been quite a journey for Hardy.
The passion began in the eighth grade. That's when Hardy began official competition in track and field. She started competing in hurdles. Then she picked up a shot put. In the eighth grade she threw the shot put distances that would've ranked among the farthest by any high school athlete in America. Then she gravitated toward the weight throw and hammer throw. In her words, she just "clicked quickly." She finished out her high school career winning 20 of her final 21 weight throw competitions.
Greg Watson, assistant coach for throws at LSU, was the first Division I coach to call Monique. Watson was entering his third season with the Tigers. He previously served as assistant throws coach at K-State from 2013-18.
Of course, every other SEC school came calling shortly after, along with UCLA, Penn State and Texas. But Hardy was hooked on LSU. And she did not disappoint. As a freshman, she competed solely in the weight throw indoors. She became the second female in LSU history to be named SEC Women's Freshman Field Athlete of the Year indoors. She recorded the second-best throw in LSU history with a toss of 71 feet, 11 ½ inches. She finished fourth at the SEC Champions with a heave of 70 feet, 10 ½ inches, then she finished ninth in the NCAA Indoor Championships with an effort of 70 feet, 6 ½ inches, as the only freshman in the nation to make it to nationals in the event.
When Watson returned as throws coach at K-State, Hardy, who had never been to Manhattan, put her name into the transfer portal in hopes of being reunited with Watson.
As a sophomore at K-State, Hardy finished 22nd in the hammer throw at the NCAA West Preliminary after finishing fourth in the Big 12 Championships. She also finished fourth in the weight throw at the Big 12 Championships. As a junior, she finished 13th in the hammer throw at the NCAA West Preliminaries after winning the Big 12 Championship with a throw of 64.24 meters, almost three feet farther than the runner-up finish. It marked her fifth straight win in a hammer throw event. She also earned Second Team All-America honors in the weight throw with an 11th place finish in the NCAA Championships after winning the Big 12 Championship, becoming the first K-State athlete to win the weight throw title since 2019.
All the while, Hardy wasn't content with her performances.
"After having such a breakout freshman year at LSU and coming here, I had pressures number wise specifically to throw far and to stay and rise to the occasion every single time," Hardy said. "A lot of it was personal and external things because I'm my biggest critic every single day and wanted to be perfect. I just had to trust God. Not every day is going to be perfect.
"The stress and pressures are internal. Externally, everyone is rooting for you. Enjoying the process makes it special and it's a different type of stress — a good stress — to throw far at those meets."
She paused.
"Right now, all I can think of is the glory of God," she said. "This journey to where I'm at today has been filled with so many highs and lows. I don't really focus on the lows because the highs are just so great right now. My mental growth has been the biggest aspect to me and in trusting what I do every day. There are a lot of things behind the scenes. I give all the glory to God."
One big transition hit Hardy when Rovelto retired prior to the start of last year and Geopfert replaced him, quickly assembling a talented team of assistant coaches.
Hardy bade farewell to Watson after a five-year coach-athlete relationship between LSU and K-State, and she met John Newell, who was hired as the track and field associate head coach, overseeing throwers, on August 2, 2024. Newell brought 19 years of experience to K-State, including stops at Michigan State, Tennessee, Arkansas and Vanderbilt, and he coached five total Olympians, one national champion, 41 First Team All-Americans and 23 conference champions.
"He's very straight to the point, he's very chill, and he's a cool guy," Hardy said. "Once you get to know him, he's very relaxed and understanding. I talked with him about the future and what I wanted to accomplish. The big thing was Rome wasn't built in a day. We knew the transition and everything we'd work on wasn't going to be done in the first six months, getting used to each other and his coaching style. That was really, really important."
Last year, something clicked.
And Hardy became stronger than she ever had been in her life.
"I got strong," she said. "I've never been this strong in my life. That was really helpful. I found my throw and what was comfortable for me in the ring. That was the most important thing. If you watch the hammer throw, everybody has their own thing that makes them throw just a little bit farther. Just to be able to take reps every day and to be able to have different feels on a day-to-day basis is important. You have to find your niche and what makes your throw unique and what makes it travel far."
The result?
Hardy earned 2024 NCAA Second Team All-America honors in the weight throw and was a 2025 NCAA Second Team All-American in the hammer throw.
"She inherited a new coach last year, and with that there's always transition," Geopfert said. "She had a lot of success as a freshman and sometimes when you have a ton of success early in your career, anxiety, pressure and stress can come with that. She hasn't had a personal record until last year. Getting a new coach and the learning curve with that and then her ability to just relax and compete allowed her to have a personal best last year for the first time in three years. That was fantastic."
If her debut last Friday showed anything, there figures to be much more to come from Hardy this season.
"My confidence is through the roof," she said. "I'm shooting for First Team All-American, Big 12 Champion, but mostly enjoying the process, having fun and just throwing as far as I can. This is my last season, so I want to enjoy everything that comes with it.
"This next weekend is going to be really fun, seeing world-class competition and having a ton of schools come out. That's going to be really fun. It'll be a nice progression of where our training is going. It's going to be really exciting leading into the Big 12."
Once the second-best high school weight thrower in the country, Hardy is one of the best collegiate weight throwers in the country as well.
She's come a long way since the days of dominating high school track and field in Webster, New York.
"I've learned that you're stronger than you think you are," Hardy said. "I've learned to give 100% in everything you do, and most importantly, give all the glory to God in good days and in bad days. God always has a greater plan for you."
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/ Track & Field
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