Three years removed from winning her third state championship in the discus, Loveland High alum Kajsa Borrman will throw on the biggest stage of her college career Thursday.
Borrman, now a redshirt sophomore at Colorado State, will compete in the hammer throw at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Ore. She qualified with a throw of 62.93 meters (206 feet, 5 inches) at the West Regional in College Station, Texas on May 29 and is ranked 15th going into the event in her first appearance at nationals.
Her rise to one of the nation’s best throwers in a short amount of time shouldn’t come as a surprise.
With both of her parents being standout throwers for CSU, Borrman had family ties to the school and program in place literally at birth. She was recruited early by Rams head track and field coach Brian Bedard and spent plenty of time around the program even before she stepped into the ring at the Jack Christiansen Memorial Track for the first time as a collegiate student-athlete.
“I’ve known Kajsa since she was in diapers, so it is a different dynamic with her,” Bedard said.
Bedard, along with the support of her family and her familiarity with the program, kept her close to home after she won three state titles in four years at Loveland. If it weren’t for the COVID-19 pandemic canceling the 2020 meet, she might have been a four-time state champ.
A volleyball and basketball standout in high school as well, throwing was her calling card and she had been looking forward to being a Ram for as long as she can remember.
“I was always kind of looking forward to coming to CSU,” Borrman said. “Shoutout to Bedard for recruiting me the first day. There wasn’t really much of a fight and coming in, I knew a lot of the team anyway, so it was really easy for me to kind of just get into the groove right away. I really didn’t feel nervous or anything.”
She redshirted her first season and her rise to success took off last year.
At the Mountain West Conference indoor championships, she finished third in the weight throw. At the outdoor Mountain West championships, she was fourth in the hammer and fifth in the discus.
“Redshirting was amazing,” Borrman said. “It kind of sucked not being able to travel, but everybody goes through it. It made my first year even more special than this year. I just feel like I got in my groove even more.”
Colorado State’s Kajsa Borrman laughs during a press conference last Thursday at Moby Arena in Fort Collins. (Nathan Wright/Loveland Reporter-Herald)This year, she won the weight throw at the Mountain West indoor championships on Feb. 28 with a throw of 21.67 (71-1.25). At the outdoor conference meet on May 15, she won the hammer throw with a toss of 66.27 (217-5) and was third in the discus with a throw of 53.46 (175-4).
Then at the West Regional, she secured her spot at Eugene on her final throw, becoming another national qualifier in a long line of successful throwers at CSU. She will be joined at nationals by two of them, shot putter Mya Lesnar and discus thrower Klaire Kovatch.
“It’s my first time qualifying so I’m really happy that I have two really good role models to pave the way with these two old ladies,” Borrman said. “But it’s really cool to me to go with teammates and kind of enjoy the experience.”
Borrman has also embraced being a local athlete and competing for CSU. She said the connection she and her family have had with the program have played a role in her fitting in and becoming successful.
She is looking forward to representing not only Colorado State, but Loveland as well this week.
“I just have felt so connected in this community,” she said. “It’s been a really easy transition for me, and being able to represent my hometown, my teammates and my parents and my coaches and Fort Collins and close to Fort Collins is a really cool experience. Deep down, I know that I’m a CSU Ram and I’m always going to be one. I’ve always been one since I was little, so it’s pretty cool.”
Borrman has also benefitted from not only having the support of her fellow throwers but also creating a camaraderie with the group that goes behind the competition rings.
The group pushes each other while having fun at the same time.
“I kind of feel like this is what college sports are all about,” Borrman said. “Because once you get to the higher level and pro level, you’re kind of all on your own. So, for me, it means a lot to be able to have extra people there supporting me, watching me and I get to watch a really good competition as well.
“I feel like that’s what makes college so special because you actually get to experience it with other people and your teammates instead of just kind of having a job on your own.”
Her recent success has been a testament to the work she has put in. While Thursday will be the first time she throws at nationals, it likely won’t be her last.
Colorado State’s Kajsa Borrman stretches before practice last Thursday at CSU’s Jack Christiansen Memorial Track in Fort Collins. (Nathan Wright/Loveland Reporter-Herald) Read More Details
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