Over winter break, redshirt sophomore thrower Ty Lott found himself flipping through books, one after the other.
Never particular about genres, Lott read just about anything he could get his hands on.
Away from the pages, Lott was simultaneously navigating an entirely different chapter of his own life.
A few months earlier, the 6-foot-3, 255-pound Lott was getting ready to lift in the weight room, his usual domain outside of competition.
Having completed a six-week training block, Lott entered the max-out phase with a heavy power clean attempt.
As Lott lifted the barbell, it fell backward and caused him to lose his balance, eventually trapping his left wrist between the bar and the ground.
“Right when I got up from under it, my whole hand was numb. I knew something was messed up,” Lott said.
Aside from an occasional broken finger or toe, Lott had never been dealt a serious, long-lasting injury with implications, leading him to believe his wrist was just sprained.
Once it swelled rapidly, Lott knew it was worse than he hoped.
“It was numb, and I went to the trainers shortly after, and they didn’t have good news for me.”
At the emergency room, the doctors said that the injury would require multiple surgeries after he underwent an initial procedure to move bones in his hand.
When he visited a hand doctor for further evaluation, they informed him that recovery would take over a year and extend beyond the conclusion of his outdoor season.
As the weeks passed, the return that once seemed more than a year away suddenly felt much closer, especially as Lott continued training throughout his recovery. Maybe he wouldn’t have to miss either season after all.
His perspective continued to shift as his recovery progressed, and despite being unable to lift, Lott could still participate in training for his own sports because the pressure and tension rested on his right hand as a thrower, with the left serving only as a guide hand.
Lott continued to do single-arm exercises and movements that are part of the natural course of his training, keeping him in an “optimistic mood,” even if not to the intensity or extent he wanted.
“I wasn’t just sitting idle and watching everything happen from afar, up close even. That kept me in a good, positive mindset,” Lott said.
He was eventually cleared to compete and slated to make his return at January’s Leonard Hilton Memorial Invitational, the first indoor meet of the season.
For a moment, it appeared he might not miss any time at all.
Then, the night before the meet, he came down with the flu.
“I found it funny. I was very sick, and I don’t get sick often,” Lott said. “ It’s just how I knew that this is something else outside of me. God is giving me the sign that I do not need to be competing at the time that I had wanted to compete.”
He got his opportunity two weeks later, on January 23-24, at the Ted Nelson Invitational in College Station, Texas.
Despite seeing higher marks in practice, Lott recorded a personal-best 19.87 meters in the weight throw, placing him fourth in the competition.
His result in the meet began a streak of three consecutive personal bests, capped off by a first-place finish at the Howie Ryan Invitational with a 21.4-meter weight throw.
Lott’s success has continued in the outdoor portion of the season, with four first-place finishes, including a school record 66.89-meter hammer throw at the Cameron Burrell Invitational on April 30.
Though he enters the Big 12 Outdoor Championships in Tucson, Ariz., with a top mark in the hammer throw, Lott isn’t allowing expectations to define his mindset the way they once may have.
“I’ve already put in the work, I made the travel list, I’m going to get on the plane, we’re going to get there, and what gets done is done,” Lott said. “It’s just competing when it happens. I have to take it minute-by-minute and just allow things to happen freely again.”
It was Lott’s faith in Christ that became the foundation that carried him through his recovery and helped him to slow down.
“If I wasn’t as rooted through God and Christ as I was during that time, I would’ve crumbled,” said Lott, who to that point said his identity was “all performance-based,” revolving around his athletic commitments and school.
Lott’s faith helped him recognize that many of his struggles were psychological, as he often became frustrated over things beyond his control.
As he leaned more heavily on his faith, however, his mindset began to shift.
“He (Christ) allowed me to see how much I have to be grateful for, and how much I have going for me outside of the things I thought were most important to me,” Lott said.
While much of Lott’s recovery was defined by personal bests and even a program record, some of his greatest growth has come from how he sees the world, especially through reading.
Lott admits he never fully read To Kill a Mockingbird when his teacher assigned it to his high school class; instead, he relied on SparkNotes, a fast track to understanding.
Years later, in college, Lott says the acclaimed novel takes on an entirely new meaning after actually reading what is now “definitely” in his top three books of all time
“I read it a couple of weeks ago, it was the best book I’ve read in the last two years,” Lott said. “The story, the plot, the meaning behind it. I think that was a very dense and profound book.”
Just six months after a weight room accident that once threatened to sideline him for over a year, Lott will enter Thursday as not only the top thrower in the Big 12 conference.
And yet, some of the most meaningful moments of growth came in a “silent, solemn place,” as he flipped through the pages of his newest book.
“If you ever want to talk to me about books, then my face will light up, I promise you,” he said, grinning.
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