Brittany Pryor didn’t always get the throw she always wanted. But her passion for the sport only made her want to keep throwing until she got it right.
And while her teammates at Virginia Tech became more specialized in one event, there wasn’t an event that Pryor wasn’t eager to tackle. What started as being in the shot put soon turned into adding on the discus, hammer and weight throw en route becoming a six-time All-American with the Hokies from 2006 to 2009.
Pryor’s career had taken her from winning six Atlantic Coast Conference titles to qualifying for the hammer throw for the Olympic Trials in 2008 and then again in 2012. But up until five months ago, Pryor wasn’t expecting the phone call she received from Virginia Tech’s new athletic director, Whit Babcock.
The moment came when Pryor was one of eight inductees into the Virginia Tech Sports Hall of Fame on Sept. 20, a class that also featured former Buffalo Bills quarterback Tyrod Taylor and her former head coach, Dave Cianelli. Reflecting back on her career, Pryor’s success came through her ability to adapt.
“I don’t mind trying and failing,” Pryor said. “Just because I don’t get something right away doesn’t mean I can’t get it. I think I just have a mindset that it’s, ‘Oh, I just have to try a different path.’ … I don’t think I ever took failure as if I failed in the moment. I never internalized it. I’m like, ‘Oh, that didn’t work.’ I kind of take everything as an experiment.”
After winning four state championships, including three at Niagara Falls, Pryor started her college career at Syracuse in 2005, but transferred to Virginia Tech the following year after a coaching change. Once she became a Hokie, Pryor excelled.
By the time she graduated in 2009, Pryor became the program’s fifth women’s track and field athlete to earn six All-American honors and still holds five top-10 marks across the four events. Along with winning six conference titles, including sweeping the throws events at the 2008 ACC indoor championships, Pryor also found success nationally.
Along with winning the shot put at the 2007 outdoor NCAA East Regional with a toss of 54 feet, 7 inches and the discus two years later at 171-1, Pryor reached the top-10 at the NCAA track and field championships in each of her three years with the Hokies.
In 2007, Pryor placed seventh in the shot put at NCAA indoors at 53-7.75 and placed ninth at NCAA outdoors at 53-1.5. One year later in indoor, Pryor placed seventh at NCAAs in the shot put at 54-07.25 and placed seventh in the outdoor hammer throw with a personal best of 208-1.
Pryor then reached the NCAA outdoor championships in the hammer throw in 2009 and had an 11th place finish in the shot put. Now mostly living in Las Vegas with a career as a senior management consultant and independent business consultant, Pryor credited the environment created by Cianelli behind her success over the three years.
“I felt like everyone was just so good that it was just, we all wanted to push each other,” Pryor said. … In the weight room, you see that they go up, then you want to go up, or people are pushing after you. I felt like the environment was competitive, but it was also very friendly, but we all have really high goals. We wanted to do really amazing things. So I think it was just easier to progress.”
Pryor’s success came from staying steady emotionally. When the stakes were high, Pryor wasn’t rattled by the pressure and continued her routine.
When Pryor first arrived at Virginia Tech, the shot put was her strength, but by her second year, she developed the discus, hammer and weight throw. A combination of her strength and willingness to absorb what her coaches taught her, to Cianelli, led to her success.
“She was a student of the events,” Cianelli said. “… She was a very focused individual. She had specific goals that she wanted to reach and she was a serious student athlete. She was super gifted physically, but also had the focus and the commitment (and) determination to want to use all her gifts to reach a high level. That’s why she was able to do what she did.”