Five school records, a two-time Gulf South Conference Outdoor Field Athlete of the Year, and so many accolades that you would need four hands to count them all. You may think that someone who accumulated this outrageous amount of honors for UAH was always destined to throw the shot put and discus. However, for Zach Hancock that wasn't the case.

Hancock's true first love was not track and field, but basketball. He had played since he was seven years old and aspired to play in the NBA someday. Compare this to his minimal background in track, joining the team at James Clemens High as a junior. He viewed track as a way to improve his athleticism for basketball.

His original plan was to use the newfound athleticism to walk on to the basketball program at Mississippi State and fight for a spot on the team. Those plans changed when UAH track coach David Cain approached him at his last home meet in high school. Hancock said the meeting "changed everything for me."

Hancock travels this weekend, along with teammates Michael Gizzi (60 meter dash) and Wilson McClain (60 meter hurdles), to the NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field Championships in Pittsburg, Kansas. He finished sixth in last year's championship.

Cain recalled his first glimpse of Hancock, who was still thin and in basketball shape, but "with a lot of potential." Cain urged him to hit the weight room "and he took it to heart. He's been a weight-room warrior. He's the kind of guy you want leading your throws group, because he leads by example and that elevates the team."

The decision to give up basketball wasn't an easy one. He described the moment he decided to drop basketball as a "big breakup." But as the old saying goes, "When one door closes, another door opens."

And that door didn't open slowly like a sliding glass door at an old supermarket. It flew off its hinges as Hancock burst onto the scene as freshman. He won the Gulf South Conference Outdoor Freshman of the Year, the GSC Outdoor Championship Most Outstanding Freshman, and made the GSC Outdoor First Team All-GSC in the shot put and discus. He's now in his last year of eligibility, working toward a graduate degree in Management Science after earning his undergrad in economics.

His expectations going into the final indoor meet of the season are to build off his most recent performance at the Alex Wilson Invitational at Notre Dame, where he was competing against athletes from such schools as Notre Dame, Indiana, Mississippi State and Purdue. He hit eighteen meters with the shot put for the first time this season and finished third in the strong field. Said Cain, "He's competitive regardless of the division."

While winning the NCAA Championship seems like a lofty goal, Hancock strives for more. He is working to qualify for the U.S. team for the World Championships and has his eyes set on the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Ironically, one of his competitors as he moves forward in his career is his current coach, assistant Duke Kicinski, a former NCAA champ in the discus and Big 12 champ in the shot put.  Having Kicinski working with the Chargers' throwers this year has benefitted Hancock if for no other reason, Cain said, then "for the first time there's somebody who can throw farther than Zach in practice. That's helped push him to the next level."

Athletes in the throwing sports typically don't hit their peak until their late 20s, so competing as a professional and aiming for national and world-level meets is not far-fetched.

"I've always had the mindset that I want to be the best at whatever I do," Hancock said. "Why not shoot for the very top?"