Today: Mar 29, 2024

Kelly finds success on and off the field

Edward RudmanSports Writer

The university prides itself upon the success of its determined student athletes on and off the field, one of those athletes being Track and Field member Turner Kelly.

Kelly, a thrower, earned his undergraduate degree last spring and is now taking graduate degree courses in Business Administration here at Southern, but due to the cancellation of last spring’s sports seasons, Kelly finds himself with another semester of eligibility to compete as an Owl in the spring.

“The day I found out our whole entire season was cancelled, at first I was really disappointed and sad,” said Kelly. “But then, within that day, I realized I still have to keep training, I still got to get ready for myself because whatever I do with track or school, I need to finish it out. So, I finished out school and then I kept training because I still wanted to see where this would take me.”

Kelly attended Copiague High School in New York and was a captain for both his Track and Field program and Football team. He was county champion and Two-Time All-League in shot put.

When he came to Southern, Kelly had to adjust to the change in training coming into a legitimate division two program and never received the proper coaching for throwing in high school due to the fact that he did not have a coach that had experience throwing, according to Kelly.

“A lot of it was in the weight room. We had to make a lot of technical changes in his shot but he was willing to do that because he knew he didn’t have a great grasp on how to throw yet,” said Head Coach John Wallin.

“He’s been able to make those changes but that was the easy part. He needed a good four or five years of lifting weights to get to the level of strength that other throwers in college are at.”

Kelly described himself as someone who needs to work, while still being focused on the upcoming spring season.

He is looking to further his career now that he has his bachelors degree.

At the moment, Kelly is working as an insurance salesman and is hoping that he can become a financial adviser within the next six months.

His accomplishments as an Owl include All-region selection in the shot put (outdoors and indoors), hammer throw, weight throw and was named the Most Outstanding Field Performer at both the Northeast 10 Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

Wallin said, “Turners a special guy and a very driven guy. He’s a guy that has a lot of fire in him and at the end of the day, he really does a good job at all the areas he’s working on, on and off the field. If my three boys end up being like Turner Kelly, boy that means I did a good job as a father because he is a special guy.”

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