5 days ago
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Before Brock Lesnar was a wrestling legend, UFC star or NFL hopeful, the former WWE champ was actually an NCAA title winner as a heavyweight grappler at Minnesota.
Now it's his daughter Mya's turn to add some collegiate hardware to the family mantle place.
The 23-year-old Colorado State senior won the NCAA shot put title with a first-round toss of 19.01 meters. She is the first Rams athlete to win an outdoor event title since Loree Smith did so in 2005.
Just the sixth Colorado State athlete to win outdoor gold, the younger Lesnar previously won the NCAA indoor shot put title in 2024.
What's more, Mya is the only competitor in program history to win both indoor and outdoor titles.
'Heck yeah it was. It was pretty awesome,' Lesnar told the school's athletics website, CSURams.com. 'Obviously throws like that don't happen often, and to do it on my first one was pretty cool. I just went calm, hit my cues. [Rams coach Brian] Bedard and I have tons of trust, and that's exactly what we did.
Mya Lesnar of the Colorado State Rams competes in the shot put during the Division I Men's and Women's Track and Field Championship held at Hayward Field on Thursday
The 23-year-old senior reacts after competing in the shot put at the national track stadium
Brock Lesnar has enjoyed success in the octagon and the wrestling ring since his NCAA title
'I think it had more of an effect for me. It meant more for me to do it on the first one, to start off the competition strong. A lot of the other ladies responded. It was awesome.'
While that remained the best throw of the day, Mya would nearly top it with an 18.8-meter effort for the top two results of the day.
Remarkably, Rams coach Brian Bedard thinks Mya is actually capable of much more.
'I still think she missed the big one today because in training we've been seeing throws in the 19.30-meter range, so she didn't quite put it together,' Bedard said. 'She probably had a B-plus day for her, but when a training is going so well to have a big margin that she can maybe not hit her best and win it is awesome.
'It was a great start for her. We've been working on the mental game and trying to have some joy when she competes and really simplify some technical cues and managing excitement levels and all that, and I thought she did that today. When she came up and talked to me between throws, she had a really good awareness of what she was doing in the throw and what she was feeling. I just loved her mindset today. It was mature.'
To put Mya's top throw into perspective, China's Lijiao Gong won the women's shot put at the Tokyo Games in 2023 with a toss of 20.58. Mya's toss on Thursday would have been good enough for sixth place in that tournament.
To put Mya's top throw into perspective, China's Lijiao Gong won the shot put at the Tokyo Games in 2023 with a toss of 20.58. Mya's toss Thursday would have been sixth in Tokyo
Mya Lesnar is the second member of here family to win an NCAA title behind her father
Conversation online naturally turned to Mya’s obvious athleticism.
‘If she started doing MMA professionally she might be a problem in the cage,’ one person wrote on X.
‘She’s so strong genetically but I am sure that she worked so hard to make that throw,’ another added. ‘I look forward to seeing her get a gold medal someday (sic).’
Mya has gone viral in recent years both for her sensational athletic ability and her striking resemblance to famous father Brock.
Back in 2023 the track and field athlete grabbed headlines after breaking the shot put record at Colorado State with a superb 18.50 attempt, while she also claimed three straight Mountain West Conference titles.
Brock, who has not featured in WWE since losing to Cody Rhodes at SummerSlam in 2023, is one of the wrestling's most celebrated stars and a highly-successful combat-sport athlete.
Lesnar hugs Rams coach Brian Bedard, who claimed she had better throws in training
At just 25, he became the youngest WWE champion ever in 2002 before briefly leaving to sign with NFL franchise the Minnesota Vikings.
After being cut by the team, Lesnar ventured into the MMA world and became UFC heavyweight champion in 2008, defending the title on two occasions before suffering defeat to Cain Velasquez in 2010.
He eventually returned to WWE in 2012 before going to enjoy a successful 11-year stint with the organization which included two Royal Rumble wins and several headline pay-per-view events.
Most famously, Lesnar was responsible for ending The Undertaker's long-running WrestleMania streak in 2014.
