March 6, 2006

DAYTON, OH - Kelly Pohlman was named the Most Outstanding Field Performer at the Atlantic 10 Indoor Track and Field Championships in Kingston, R.I.

She won both the shot put and the weight throw with distances of 47'5.25 and 55'00.75 . Her shot put distance was a season-best and four feet ahead of the second place finisher. It marked the third straight year Pohlman has won the shot put, which ties an Atlantic 10 record, and the sixth time in seven years a Flyer has taken home first in that event.

But Kelly is much more then the phenomenal athlete that we have come to know; she is also one of the best people on campus.

Her academic record is stellar, maintaining a 3.8 GPA while majoring in psychology and minoring in biology. She is in the psychology fraternity, Psi Chi, which is a co-ed fraternity that focuses its efforts on community service and educating psychology students about post-undergraduate options. She is also a student mentor for first-year students at UD, which means she assists them with career planning and shows them the resources on campus and off that will help them achieve success.

With her major, she hopes to work in the occupational therapy field. There she can help people with many different kinds of disabilities achieve independence. Occupational therapy is used to help people who have or develop disabilities maintain independence in the form of managing their daily lives.

"She's the type of person that doesn't come into your life very often, but when they do, you realize that you are lucky to have had them be in your life, even if it only was for a short time," UD Track and Field coach Kandice Erwin said. "She is someone you can always count on, no matter what you ask of her."

Her most rewarding work may very well be her therapy sessions with autistic siblings, one five years old and the other four. She provides them with verbal and behavioral therapy, and reinforces proper social, play and learning skills. She also helps them with self-help tasks, reading, writing and fine motor skills.

"When I arrive at their house, they both run up with open arms. Hearing your name from a child with severe autism is heart-melting," Pohlman said. "Knowing that I have impacted their lives as much as they have impacted mine is truly a rewarding experience."

Kelly has impacted many different people in many different ways in our campus community and the community of Dayton as a whole.

"Kelly has had a very successful four years on the UD track & field team," Erwin said. "But I think the mark that Kelly is leaving on UD will last much longer than any championships she has won or records she has set."