The Eastern Mennonite track and field team has a motto: Hard work equals great reward.

If ever an Eastern Mennonite track and field student-athlete personified the words, it’s Chelsea Lawhorn. Lawhorn, a junior thrower who is legally blind in one eye and manages a chronic disease that affects her balance, has made her mark on the tradition-rich program through hard work and unwavering determination.

Lawhorn was born legally blind, a condition her family didn’t discover until she was about a month old. Doctors determined she had underdeveloped pupils. Lawhorn slowly regained some vision in her right eye, but remains legally blind in her left eye. At the age of 4, she was diagnosed with nystagmus, an involuntary eye movement that usually results in some degree of visual loss. Eye movement may be from side to side, up and down or rotary.

The nystagmus primarily affects Lawhorn’s balance, and she has no peripheral vision or depth perception in her left eye. None of that, however, has stopped her. She went out for the track and field team in high school because the variety of events attracted her to the sport. Having a friend who was a thrower led her to consider the throwing disciplines.

Lawhorn wasn’t the best thrower on her high school team, but she found other ways to contribute. In fact, when Eastern Mennonite head track coach Seth McGuffin met Lawhorn for the first time, she was actually competing in the mile because she hadn’t qualified for the throwing events, but still wanted to help her team.

“It showed me that even though she wasn’t able to throw, she still wanted to be there with the team,” said McGuffin. “That goes a long way because it means if I say do 50 pushups and 200 of this drill, she’s going to do it, and she’s been that way.”

McGuffin encouraged Lawhorn to join the Eastern Mennonite team.  

“I was really surprised because I could never see myself throwing past high school. High school was mostly fun and games whereas college was where coaches were looking for the top athletes, like state champions. I guess I was wrong,” she said.

Lawhorn’s ideas about college student-athletes may have been slightly off target, but the decision to pursue throwing at the collegiate level has turned out to be the right one.

The nystagmus doesn’t affect her ability to compete, but it does influence her balance. Lawhorn uses the “glide” technique in the shot. In the discus, she’s unable to perform a full spin, again due to her balance, and throws from the snap.

“When I’m doing the ‘glide’ in the shot, I have to remember to get set and have a good base or my balance will be messed up for the throw. Coach McGuffin has really helped me out with that this year,” said Lawhorn, a social work major who aspires to counsel victims of child abuse and neglect.

“For the discus, balance isn’t an issue until I learn how to spin, and that will be a big challenge, so I’ll just have to focus harder.”

If Lawhorn’s steady improvement is any indication, her focus is locked in. After a nondescript high school career in which her personal best in the shot put was 27 feet 9 inches indoors and 25 feet outdoors, she has flourished at Eastern Mennonite.

In each of the three years since she joined the Royals’ track and field squad, Lawhorn has added at least three feet to her distance in the shot put. Hitting the 30-foot mark and placing first at a meet during her freshman year are among the achievements she said she didn’t think would ever happen. There have been other notable accomplishments since then.

“Hitting 37 feet this year and being tied for first in the conference is still hard to believe, but it has helped me feel more confident,” said Lawhorn.

The junior carried that confidence into the Old Dominion Athletic Conference indoor championships on February 29 and walked away with the shot put title with a throw of 39 feet, 8 and a half inches. With the victory, Lawhorn not only became the fifth best thrower in ODAC and Eastern Mennonite history, she achieved a personal goal by winning the championship.

Even though she called the achievement a ‘big deal,’ she isn’t interested in resting on her accomplishments. Lawhorn wants to eclipse the 40-foot mark in the shot put before she graduates. It would put her in elite company. Only five Royals have thrown for that distance and Eastern Mennonite is the only ODAC member with an athlete to achieve the feat. However, the prospect seems well within Lawhorn’s grasp, especially given the commitment to hard work ethic she displays on a daily basis.

Other team members are familiar with Lawhorn’s challenges, McGuffin said, but they also see someone who works hard and wants to do well. “We’ve had a great tradition here in throwing and have been blessed with some really good women throwers,” he said. “I think people realize she’s overcome a lot to get to this point; and I hope they realize that’s the point of her story, not how far she’s throwing.”

Nothing comes easy, Lawhorn said. But reflecting on her progress, she believes can overcome anything.

“If you choose to do it, work hard and never give up, you can achieve your goals,” she said. “It’s always good to set personal goals for yourself and aim to reach them no matter what anyone else thinks.”