KINGSLEY, Ia. — Kiana
Phelps steps into the throwing ring and enters her own zone.
It’s an area that she alone
controls. Phelps, 18, can focus on tossing the discus to a record-shattering distance,
drawing gasps from a crowd.
It’s far from school hallways where
she may be ignored or belittled, or social media battlegrounds where she can
be insulted. It’s a place where Phelps can briefly put away haunting
grief over her sister’s deadly struggle with anorexia.
The throwing ring is safety, security
and unrivaled success. Kiana’s World.
Phelps will walk into the state
track meet ring Friday at Drake Stadium to cap her career as the greatest high
school discus thrower to ever compete in Iowa.
Phelps has the top girls discus
throw in Iowa high school history and has a chance to become the only
athlete to win four state and four Drake Relays championships in the event.
The determination and devotion that
has earned her a scholarship to Oregon's elite college track program — and
brought dreams of competing in the Olympics someday — will reach its
final stage in prep competition.
That public spotlight,
which has brought both pride and pain to her in high school, will fade.
Phelps has channeled her emotions
into stardom, turning life's negatives into athletic positives.
"I chose track, and I chose to
put everything into track," Phelps said.
Phelps' track skills put her in the
Iowa record book and into a select group of elite athletes.
But it wasn't easy for her. There
were long days of practicing her technique or lifting weights.
Her efforts resulted in throwing the discus 179-7, the state's all-time best. Phelps owns the state meet record of 166-4, set a year ago.
Her efforts resulted in throwing the discus 179-7, the state's all-time best. Phelps owns the state meet record of 166-4, set a year ago.
Like a Broadway-bound theater star
or an academic wunderkind, she drew media attention like no other student
at Kingsley-Pierson High School. But that wasn't always a blessing.
Phelps didn't run with the
pack. Phelps decided that some of her friends were making bad choices. She
had big goals in mind, even if it meant limiting her social life.
"There comes a point that you've
got two paths to choose," Phelps said. "I kind of chose to be
different. I chose to be a critical thinker."
Phelps has a strong personality:
confident, ambitious and even flamboyant. She's traveled to more than half
a dozen states and Cuba to compete in track and represent the United States.
The media covered her success every spring.
This created resentment among some
of her fellow students.
Some of the bullying Phelps and her
family say she has encountered: Social media photos of her working out
accompanied with rude and sarcastic comments; teases for holding a college
letter of intent signing ceremony at her school and a social media post that
suggested Phelps only gets attention because her older sister had died of
anorexia.
The Phelps family never filed a
formal report with the school concerning the bullying — and Scott Phelps,
Kiana's father, said they have no complaints about how it was handled by the
school district.
Still, the words stung.
"It's like crabs trapped in a
bucket, trying to get out," Kiana said. "They try to grab you by the
leg and bring you down."
The form of harassment she endured
is called "social relational bullying" — when someone tries to say
hurtful things to put down a victim's success, according to Penny
Bisignano, the state coordinator for a national bullying prevention program.
Phelps had fame, but it was too much
for some of her critics. Social relational bullying is on the rise in Iowa
schools and workplaces, Bisignano said.
"They
can really change the life of someone, no matter how well they're doing, no
matter how successful they are," Bisignano said.
About a year ago,
Kiana's family members contacted an attorney who specializes in cyber
bullying. The family was advised to capture and print online insults, which
ebbed away.
It isn't the first time an
elite Iowa high school athlete has been bullied.
Alex Gochenour, a former
Logan-Magnolia track star who is now a senior All-American on the
Arkansas Razorbacks' women's track and field team, said she has similar
experiences to Kiana's.
“As hard as it is, you have to look
at the big picture. You have a whole life ahead of you.”
Gochenour chose to avoid alcohol as
a high school student and was harassed because of it. When she focused on her
goal of attending a big college or displaying a tireless work ethic in her
sport, she was teased.
"You have to have a really
thick skin," Gochenour said, who added she lost friends.
Her advice to others who are
victims: "As hard as it is, you have to look at the big
picture," she said. "You have a whole life ahead of you."
Kiana Phelps followed in the family's
pursuit of throwing the discus and shot.
Her dad, Scott, was a Drake Relays
discus champ in high school and went on to compete in college. All four of his
kids became throwers, too.
Kiana, who competes for
Kingsley-Pierson/Woodbury Central, will participate in both events at the state
meet, which starts Thursday in Des Moines. One of her brothers, Nick, a
sophomore, will contend to win titles in both, too.
An older brother, Colton, is a
freshman member of Northern Iowa's track team.
Kiana says she looked up to her
older sister, Krista, who died just two days after she finished sixth in the
discus at the state track meet in 2010.
Krista was a sophomore who battled
anorexia. It's a matter that still churns up emotions in the Phelps
household.
"We went through about 10
months of hell," said Laura Phelps, Kiana's mother. "It's a terrible
club that you don't want to be a member of."
The family has a collection of
photographs of Krista stored in an envelope. Among the images of her is a shot
of a rainbow the family spotted on a trip to the Black Hills not long after she
died.
"It's kind of like our penny
from heaven," Laura said.
Krista's death hurt Kiana. She has
poured her pain into workouts and competition.
"I found throwing as my
release," Kiana said. "That was my savior I guess.”
Kiana writes her goals next to a
mirror in her bedroom, where she can look at them every day.
Some are lofty; some are more
personal, in the case of those past online insults.
Her brother Nick said he uses an
unconventional method of preparing for a meet, too: He takes a wooden
stake, about five feet high, and marks the distance that a foe has thrown the
shot. Then he attaches a photo of the rival. He tries to toss the weight past
that mark.
B.J. Mulder, a Kingsley-Pierson
physical education teacher who is a strength and conditioning coach at the
school, says Kiana is a rare athlete.
"She is the most mentally
tough girl I've worked with," said Mulder, who has been at the school for
more than 30 years. "She's a relentless, relentless athlete.
"I don't think people grasp
what level of an athlete she is."
Kiana's last meet awaits while her
final throws in Iowa high school competition are days away.
She'll step into that world she
owns. None of the hurt and disappointment she's experienced will stop her.
"I am who I am," Kiana
said.
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