TRUE STUDENT-ATHLETE — University of North Dakota thrower Allison Lardy launches the hammer during this year’s Summit League Outdoor Championships. Lardy finished 10th with a throw of 163 feet, 10 inches. The former Fairmont High School standout recently earned all-academic accolades via a 4.0 grade point average. (Photo courtesy of Zach Lucy, UND Athletic Department)

FAIRMONT — Former Fairmont High School track & field standout Allison Lardy set the bar high when it came to her academics at Division I University of North Dakota, earning a spot on the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Association All-Academic Team for the 2023 season with her stellar 4.0 grade point average.

“It’s a challenge to maintain good grades, but I mastered my time management skills,” Lardy said. “I study a lot and get my school work done, especially when we have to go on bus trips or airline flights.”

Lardy said she wasn’t a great student in high school, maintaining a 3.0 grade point average.

“I wasn’t the best student in high school, but I turned it around in college,” Lardy said. “I had to do well in my time management skills. I had to in order to get my work done and compete in some extensive days of track & field. It all worked out and I wouldn’t trade this for the anything. I missed out on some social parts of college, but it’s OK. I loved my time on the track team.”

Lardy, who was a field event competitor on the North Dakota track & field team, maintained her perfect academic standards while finishing her master’s degree in Special Education. She already has a bachelor’s degree in General Studies.

Lardy recently turned in her senior thesis paper and is finished as a college student-athlete.

She earned the academic honor during the indoor track & field season and compiled at least an overall 3.25 grade point average. In addition, for the indoor season, a student-athlete must have finished the regular season ranked in the national top 96 in an individual event on the officlal NCAA Proof of Performance (POP) list provided by the track & field results reporting system, TFRRS.org.

Lardy joined North Dakota teammate Kenna Curry as an honoree during the indoor season, finishing No. 79 in the NCAA in the weight throw with a distance of 63 feet, 7 1/2 inches at the UND Tune-Up Meet. She was runner-up in the event and moved up to No. 5 in program history with that throw.

“The weight throw and shot put are two totally different events,” Lardy said. “I’m a glider when I throw. There is so much technique in my events. I had to work hard in practice to master the throws.”

She also threw the hammer in college, but not the javelin.

“There is so much technique that goes into throwing the hammer,” she said. “It takes a lot of practice.”

Lardy was recruited while a high school student in track & field in Minnesota by the University of South Dakota, South Dakota State University and the University of North Dakota, but chose the latter after visiting the college.

UND is a six-hour drive north and is in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

“UND is a beautiful campus,” she said. “I liked the campus and the team when I went to visit. I thought I’ll be with my teammates a lot during my time in school, so this would be a nice place to be a student-athlete.”

Lardy is fourth in UND history in the shot put with a throw of 47-1 set this season at the North Dakota State University meet the first weekend of February.

In the outdoor track & field season, Lardy is fourth in school history in the shot put with a throw of 48-2 3/4 set this year in the Redlands Invitational on March 17.

Lardy begins her post-college life in August when she begins teaching special education at the Southwest Metro Intermediate School District in Chaska.

Lardy still holds the Fairmont girls’ shot put record with a throw of 42-11 1/4 in 2017 and is sixth in school history in the discus with a throw of 103-3 set in 2018.

“I’ll miss competing with my teammates,” Lardy said. “I enjoyed my time on the track & field team. We spent a lot time together on plane rides, bus rides, practices and meets, but now it’s time for my next part of my life.”

Lardy is the youngest of two daughters to parents Traci and Nick Lardy. Allison’s older sister is Kayla.