“The idea of going and being the small fish in a big pond was motivating to me. I knew there was going to be so much room for growth and would be very challenging, but that’s the route I wanted to take.”

A gallon of milk, a pound of pasta and a pound of ground beef is what transformed Sean Donnelly. A self proclaimed uncoordinated kid, Sean took the untraditional route to the throws. He left the baseball team after being deemed the 4th string catcher.

Late in his high school career, he got introduced to the weight room and became invested in becoming a Strong Man. His diet from above led the charge from transforming himself from 180 pounds to 240 pounds. The time in the weight room caught the eye of the throws coach and convinced Donnelly to go out for track.

Donnelly took to the throws very quickly. His strength led him to strong marks in just one short season but was too late in the college recruiting process to get looks from big schools. He was in constant contact with Mount Union and could see himself at the school regardless of the track team.

From there, Donnelly experienced success early on as he finished 5th at Outdoor Nationals his freshman year. As time went on, he continued to improve. By his senior year, Donnelly had won 4 national titles and had to make a decision about his future. He could stay at Mount Union for his last season or go to the University of Minnesota for a job opportunity while also being able to compete.

Donnelly made the decision to go to Minnesota which propelled him into his career today. He finished 4th at D1 Nationals and went onto finish 9th at the trials. In his career, he’s finished top 5 in the USA 7 times.

Check out Sean’s Company: Grip and Rip

Follow Sean on Instagram

3-Year Anniversary

3 Years ago today we released our first episode with Will Leer! It’s been a blast bringing more coverage to the division. If you enjoyed any piece of content we’ve shared article, podcast, or social media posts please consider making a $3 donation in light of the special occasion! D3 Glory Days Venmo.

D3 Glory Days Patreon

We launched a Patreon! As we said, we will never go behind a paywall – so any support is greatly appreciated.

We enjoy bringing you this content and we realized we could do so much more with a little bit of backing. We want to ensure D3 gets the coverage it deserves and keeping this website paywall free! If you have enjoyed this podcast and the articles we have put, please consider becoming a Patreon of D3 Glory Days. In full disclosure, the money will go directly into the show: equipment, subscriptions we need, and most importantly, money to our writers. If you are able, we would appreciate your support.

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