Photos courtesy of Alfredas Pliadis

PALANGA, Lithuania - Grinnell College track and field star Agne Lukoseviciute '21 did plenty in recent months, including winning event titles, setting records, qualifying for the NCAA Division III National Championships and earning All-American honors.
 
Now she has one more accomplishment - Lithuanian national champion.
 
Lukoseviciute was simply amazing at the Lithuanian National Championships last Saturday, easily winning the hammer throw with a toss of 60.48 meters. That throw, which converts to 198 feet, 4.5 inches, outdistanced her previous personal best by five meters and is a toss that ranks fifth all-time for a thrower at the NCAA D-III level.
 
To what does Lukoseviciute attribute the amazing improvement? "It was two months of really hard training since NCAA nationals," she explained. "Focusing on just one event definitely helped, because I could dedicate a lot more time to it and not have to worry about aligning my lifting or technique to the other events. The first four weeks were especially tough because I was making a lot of corrections in my technique and it was a while before that work started to pay off.
 
"In general, it was five days of training a week, throwing in the morning and then a lift in the afternoon," she added. "I was filming every throw and looking through those videos to figure out what changes I needed to make and what I would work on the next practice. Lifting was also a bit different than usual, with a very strict plan made especially for hammer throwing rather than just general strength."
 
Lukoseviciute entered a meet at the University of Michigan last month, but "even there, my farthest throw was 54.95," she said. "But the last few weeks of training leading up to nationals I noticed the throws really improving and that gave me extra confidence to chase some big throws on Saturday."
 
Lukoseviciute's best throw at the Lithuanian Championships came on her second attempt, but every toss other than one foul would have been a national and personal record for her.
 
The thrower, who moved to the United States from Lithuania not quite a decade ago, knows this performance will pay big dividends as she continues her Pioneer career. "I have two more seasons of collegiate track, which will now also involve the help of the Lithuanian coaching staff and facilities, so my PR of 60.48 meters is unlikely to be very permanent," she said. "As for the mental aspect, I'm a big fan of bigger competitions such as these to begin with. There was a lot of media attention towards the women's hammer throw in Lithuania leading up to this year's championships. A lot of people were watching and this was a big help - there's a reason we throw farther in meets than in practice."
 
Lukoseviciute not only had media attention, but some fans in attendance including her throws coach from Grinnell College, Jeff Pedersen '02. "I could not be more happy for Agne and her success," said Pedersen. "She's certainly put in a tremendous amount of work to improve both her strength and her technique, and it was awesome to see it pay off in such a big way. I am very fortunate I was able to make it over to see the competition.  It was fun to watch her in a more 'big-time' environment, with a pretty good crowd and a lot more media than we've ever had. And of course it was great to see her rise to the occasion!  It's been a fun ride these past two years, and I'm always excited to see what she'll do next."
 
Lukoseviciute was happy to have her coach in attendance. "It was pretty wild; there was always a very distinct separation between my life in Lithuania and my life in the States," she said. "But then both Coach P and my high school coach came out and those two worlds merged for a couple of days. Of course Jeff couldn't coach me as per NCAA rules, but just having him there was really nice and I was proud to show off the work that I had done since leaving Grinnell in May. A huge thank you to everyone that made his trip possible."
 
Lukoseviciute will get a chance to improve on her best in the near future as she competes in the European Team Championships in Sandnes, Norway, from Aug. 9-11.