Lady Hub senior Kyra Bivins leaned on her athletic background when she decided to take up track and field for the first time during her junior year at Rochelle Township High School. 

Bivins enjoyed a very active childhood, playing a wide variety of sports from basketball to volleyball, soccer, swimming, dance, horseback riding and even ice hockey. Bivins spent two years with the RTHS volleyball program, but when her junior year came around, she found herself less interested in volleyball and more eager to try out a new sport: track and field.

“I’ve always been very active,” Bivins said. “My mom pushed me to throw for the track team because I’ve always been a relatively strong person and I wasn’t planning to do anything during my junior year because I wasn’t going to go back to volleyball. I joined the track team and I stuck with it because it grew on me and it was something I was good at. I really enjoy the sport.”

Bivins threw shot put and discus during her two years with the track and field team, immediately earning a varsity role with the throwers as a junior before becoming Rochelle’s leading thrower for the girls team as a senior. Most of her success came in the discus throw, an event Bivins took third in during the IHSA 2A Rochelle Sectional in early May. Bivins earned three event wins and four runner-up finishes in the discus this season, finishing outside of the top 5 only once.

“I came back this season and I threw 4 meters better than my PR from last season,” Bivins said. “I watched other people throw and I took in a lot of the technical parts because everything was so new to me… This year, I was more familiar with the movement and I was able to build on that a lot more. I improved my PR by 10 meters within one year and a lot of that was my technique.”

Armed with a newfound enjoyment for track and field and a passion for the discus, specifically, Bivins has decided to continue her academics and her track and field career at Monmouth College next year. A two-time Academic All-Conference honoree in the Interstate 8, Bivins was named Rochelle’s Most Improved Athlete Award winner and she took home the track and field team’s Best Throwing Performance Award during her senior season. Bivins currently holds a PR of 109 feet 7 inches in the discus as well as a PR of 29 feet 10 ¾ inches in the shot put.

“Our family has an old friend who went there and my mom said that I should apply and see what happens,” Bivins said. “They gave me the most money of all the schools I applied for and the campus was really nice. It’s a really small campus, so I’m going to be really close with my professors, and everyone seemed to be really invested in my individual improvements. The vibe was really nice and the facilities were beautiful. It just felt like the right place for me.”

Bivins eclipsed 100 feet in the discus during all but three of the 11 starts she made this season. The senior said she intends to major in history while minoring in investigative forensics at Monmouth College in hopes of potentially pursuing a career in private investigation. She also said she aims to throw discus and javelin while competing for the Monmouth College team.

“I love throwing and that’s the most exciting thing for me,” Bivins said. “I’ve only done it for two years, but I’ve always loved being in sports and I like to get better at the things I do. I’m hoping that I can be one the top throwers on the team… I owe a lot to coach [Zach] Miller because he was a really big motivator for me and he encouraged me a lot. I improved a lot in two years and he was a big proponent in motivating me and encouraging me to continue on in college.”