As a sophomore, Melissa Alger certainly has made her mark at Coe College.

Breaking Coe’s discus record with a throw of 149 feet, 11 inches earlier this month, Alger has set herself apart from the competition. But her path hasn’t always been easy.

Initially, Alger didn’t even come to Coe to throw.

“I came here to play volleyball,” she said. “I was just in the weight room one day and they came up to me and said, ‘Do you throw? You have really long arms.’”

The answer was yes. Alger starting throwing her sophomore year at Lisbon High School, after choosing not to play softball.

“I thought that I should do another sport because I like to be active and so I decided to do track. I’m not really a runner so throwing intrigued me,” she said.

This year has come with great success, as Alger beat the school record and climbed the rankings in NCAA Division III.

“Right now I’m ranked first in the nation for disc, so the goal is to win conference, and then I want to win nationals,” she said. “Some long goals, but I can do it I think.”

She hasn’t always had this success, however.

“Last year I was just an average thrower,” Alger said. “My conference meet is when I finally got the hang of throwing.”

Alger attributes a lot of her motivation to her coaches and the hard work they put in with her, especially assistant coach Amanda Latsch.

“She just really motivates me and believes in me because she was a thrower too,” Alger said. “She sees my potential and she pushes me to it.”

After trying the shot put and hammer throw, Alger said she is sticking with discus. “I think people when they think of throwing, I think they think it’s really easy, and it’s not,” she said.

No matter how difficult it is, Alger apparently makes it looks easy.

“A lot of people tell me when I throw it looks like - someone said it looked dainty one time,” Alger said. “I don’t think I’m a dainty thrower at all. I really think I’m aggressive in there, but some people say it just looks effortless.”

Alger enjoys the positive aspects of being part of the track program.

“It’s like a little family, like there’s no stress at all,” she said. “Everyone’s just always supporting you.”