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47 up and just force myself to do it, even though at the time I was uncomfortable about it." Immediately, Lihrman knew he wanted to com- pete for the Badgers. "That was the only idea I had in my head, to come here," he said. "It was home." So Lihrman sent an email to Dave Astrauskas, the UW throws coach, asking if the team had any inter- est. A 2001 graduate of Eastern Illinois and former head track and cross country coach at Southern Illi- nois University-Edwardsville, Astrauskas was in his third season as an assistant coach for Wisconsin. Because Lihrman didn't have huge marks in high school ― he competed in the discus and shot put be- cause the WIAA didn't have the hammer or weight throw, the events he later thrived in at UW-Stout ― Astrauskas had never heard of him. But he saw a competitor who was tall, lean, quick and had a proportioned body size ― ideal qualities for a thrower. Astrauskas decided to pursue Lihrman and he was granted a release from UW-Stout following the 2012 outdoor season. Lihrman's first Division I meet came on Jan. 12, 2013 at UW's Badger Track Classic. Competing unat- tached, he won the weight throw on his first attempt, throwing the 35-pound weight 68 feet, 6 inches and demolishing his personal record of 62-5 1/4, set a year earlier at UW-Stout. Had Lihrman worn a Wis- consin uniform ― he redshirted the season ― he would have broken the school record of 64-4 1/2, set by Anders Holmstrom in 2000. The fact that Lihrman threw farther than any UW athlete ever had ― on his first attempt, no less ― was a sign of things to come. In total, Lihrman has competed 12 times since ar- riving in Madison a year and a half ago. He has won 10 of those events, including eight victories in the weight throw (four coming unattached) and two in the discus (both unattached). The two events he didn't win came at the USA in- door and outdoor championships last year, where Lihrman wore the Cardinal and White uniform for the first time. Indoors, he finished sixth in the weight throw with a then-school record of 68-5 3/4. Out- doors, he was 12th in the hammer throw with a toss of 207-11, best in UW history. Not too shabby for a Badgers debut. • • • • T o put his dominance in the weight throw into perspective, Lihrman has launched 33 fair throws since moving up to Division I compe- tition and all but four of those have bested Holm- strom's previous school record. The junior's most impressive performance so far came last Friday at Wisconsin's own Red & White Open, where he unleashed a massive heave of 79-7 1/2 on his first attempt to set the all-time NCAA Di- vision I record in the weight throw. The mark broke the Division I record of 78-9 3/4 ― set by Slovakian Libor Charfreitag of SMU in 2001 ― by almost 10 inches. "I never would have ever thought I could have thrown it as far as I did," Lihrman said. "It's unbe- lievable how far I threw it. I still don't understand it. "When I was warming up I knew I was feeling re- ally good. My arms felt long and it felt really easy. But I didn't feel like I was going to throw it that far. When the weight was going through the air I thought it might be a personal record and when it landed I thought it went pretty far. "But when the mark went up on the screen I real- ized I was finally No. 1 in the nation. I had never been No. 1 before. I was just blown away."