Heather Lantis is a senior studying history with a minor in mathematics. She is a thrower for the women’s track team and vice president of the senior class.
When did you start focusing on track?
I’ve been throwing since middle school, but I’d say my junior year in high school is when I realized it was something I wanted to do in college. I kind of fell in love with the event, discus, and ever since then it’s just been something I’ve really loved doing. When I got to college, there were more throwing implements that were introduced to me. So that added a little variety, but discus has been my favorite since the beginning.
What other sports did you play before college?
I played basketball and volleyball, and a little bit of soccer.
What is your personal record for throwing?
It is 42.19 meters for discus. That’s my better of all the events. I set that last year at our GLIAC conference meet. Discus isn’t thrown indoors, and we just had our first outdoor meet this past weekend.
What is your favorite thing about throwing?
I think when you get a perfect release off of the discus, that’s my favorite thing. When you’re working on technique for so long, and then it finally clicks and you have a really good throw, it just feels really good. That feeling’s pretty wonderful.
What’s the best part about track meets?
My favorite part is probably seeing all of the other people compete, because during practices it’s a pretty separated sport in general, because there’s long distance runners and sprinters and whatnot. And so it’s fun to kind of see everyone perform and support one another, and also compete yourself because the competition environment is pretty phenomenal; it kind of elevates your level of throw in competitions.
What are the track team’s greatest strengths?
I think our biggest strength is that we have a really solid nucleus on the team. So across the board we have established athletes in every event, which is something we’ve been working to develop since Coach Towne came on my freshman year. As of right now, that’s especially seen by our indoor — we got second in nationals for indoor — and then for cross-country as well. So you that we’ve kind of developed pretty stellar athletes in multiple events, and now we’re just kind of working on gaining depth in those events to continue to improve.
What has been your favorite moment as a Charger?
Charger athletics has been in my family for a really long time. My father was an All-American wide receiver here, and my brother played baseball and football here as well. And so I think just becoming part of the Charger athlete community was something that I was very honored by, because it’s been such a legacy in my family and I finally got to kind of become a part of that family. So I think that’s probably been my favorite part, just to compete under the Hillsdale College name and join in that endeavor.
What kinds of things do you like to do outside of athletics?
I’m really involved with Athlete Intervarsity, the Christian ministry on campus. I serve in that capacity, and then also I’m involved with Kappa Kappa Gamma women’s fraternity, and then I also volunteer at the Renaissance school. I’m also the vice president of the senior class this year.
How do you balance sports and academics?
Growing up being a three-sport athlete in high school definitely prepared me for athletics and academics. I think just being really well-prepared and on top of your game both in academics and in athletics takes a lot of commitment and some sacrifice, but it’s something that I’ve grown up learning to do and so it’s kind of become second nature. And also just maintaining a healthy perspective and understanding that athletics aren’t the most important thing in the world, and on the other hand academics also aren’t the most important thing in the world. I definitely believe I’m serving a higher God and focusing on that more than my performance in those two areas.
