By Ed Townsend
SULLIVAN COUNTY — Former Tri-Valley Central School track athlete Katelyn Exner has become a member of the Women’s Outdoor Track and Field team at Ashland University in Ashland, Ohio.
Katelyn, daughter of Francis and Valorie Exner of Woodbourne, joins former Tri-Valley Central School track athletes Garrett Gray and Ryan Loughney, who are now both hammer throwers on the Ashland University Men’s Outdoor Track and Field team.
Katelyn took up the hammer in her junior year at T-V and was coached by Joe Iatauro and Scott Gray, along with friends Ryan Loughney and George Smith. In her senior year, she became the 2009 Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association (OCIAA) girls’ Hammer Throw champion with a mark of 111 feet, 6 inches. She finished her high school career with a best throw of 120 feet.
She was recruited by Ashland University, a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II powerhouse, and is now being coached by four-time U.S. Olympian Jud Logan, who won a gold medal in the Hammer Throw at the 1987 Pan American Games and competed in four Summer Olympics, starting in 1984 with a best finish of 13th in the qualifying round in 1984. He has continued throwing in the Masters Division, setting the world M50 record in 2009.   
In 2010, her first year at Ashland, Katelyn competed as a redshirt. This season, she became a full-fledged Eagle and is already throwing over 140 feet. Her best throw of the year was 143 feet, 6 inches, which was recorded in an event several weeks ago.
The Ashland University Women’s Outdoor Track and Field team competes in NCAA D-II in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
Katelyn’s goals are to qualify for Nationals and become an All-American in the Hammer Throw as well as an Academic All-American. She has a GPA of 3.1 and her major is in Social Work.