ASHLAND, Neb. (KMTV) — When you hear the last name ‘Frost’ in Nebraska you typically think of Nebraska football coach and former quarterback Scott Frost.
However, the Frost athlete that has achieved the most in the state is his mother, Carol.
The Cornhusker State Games named Carol, who is 76 years old, the female athlete of the year after her throws in the shot put and discus at the games this summer set national records.
“I hold the national record for the shot, and discus, and javelin for 65, for 70 and now for 75 (age groups),” Carol said.
Carol’s path to this point has been pretty remarkable.
When she attended high school in Cedar Rapids, Nebraska the only sports for girls were basketball and softball.
A teacher at the school noticed the female talent at the school.
“And he decided that he would start a track team, which was unheard of at that point,” Carol said.
A few of the athletes went to the Junior National Olympics Games in Los Angeles, far from Nebraska.
Carol competed in the hurdles and half mile and says she didn’t do so well.
She also competed as a thrower and would go on to finish second in both the shot and discus.
“From that point on I knew I was going to be a thrower," she said.
She then went to the University of Nebraska. There was no Title IX in place at the time, so Nebraska had no women’s sports.
To continue throwing Carol had to throw on her own and was sponsored by an AAU club.
“I went through four years at the University of Nebraska and never once threw off of a shot or discus circle for the University of Nebraska, because women weren’t allowed,” she said.
She would throw off tractor and combine platforms at the state fairgrounds and would run in the pig barn in the winter.
Her first international trip came in 1965. She won the discus, and finished fourth in the shot and sixth in the javelin.
She was then on the national team and was just getting started.
“Won the Nationals in ‘65, ‘66, ‘67, went to Winnipeg, Canada and won the PanAm gold medal in the discus,” Carol said.
On top of that, she competed in the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City.
In 1976 she put her coaching cap on, returning to UNL to coach cross country and track & field.
“My first team, we had about four or five kids is all. Two people got $250 scholarships – that was it,” Carol said. “By the time we left four years later, Title IX had started to take effect and I was able to give full-ride scholarships. We had won the Big 8 indoor, won the Big 8 outdoor, and finished second in the nation indoors.”
She coached high school football with her husband Larry for many years. Then, a little over ten years ago, she got back into throwing.
“When I turned 65, I had started looking at some of the records for Nationals and even Worlds, and thought, 'I’m still in decent shape I think I can do that.'”
She has done just that, breaking record after record.
At age 70 she competed at the World Masters in Lyon, France.
“Made a trip out of it – went to Paris, went to Normandy, went to Venice, went to Rome, did all the good things,” Carol said. “In between all of that – I won the discus, I won the javelin, and lost by three centimeters to an Austrian in the shot.”
She says she’s been able to continue throwing because of her commitment to staying in shape year-round.
“I ride my bike, I do the elliptical, I lift weights, walk my dog five miles a day. So, it’s just a commitment to being healthy.”
What does she have her eyes on now?
“I would love to go back to a World Championship and see what I can do," she said.
Of course, I had to ask, who had a better arm? Mom or Scott?
“Well, he can certainly throw it further than I can, but I’ll take him on in a free throw contest any day.”
The World Masters next year is in Finland. Carol says if she’s still in good health she plans to be there.
