A Devoted Mom. A Devoted Daughter. Now A World Record Holder Devoted To Sport.

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By Ray Glier

Monica Kendall, 70, devoted herself as caregiver to her mother, who fought stage 4 metastatic breast cancer from 2015-2025. That devotion meant Monica did not regularly train with the shot put, but she still tried to enter track & field meets every year. 

Before her mom became ill, Kendall was similarly devoted to two sons and her husband. Like many Geezer Jocks, she paused going full throttle on her hobby to be with family.

So while the shot put was not all together abandoned, it rested in cold storage a lot of the time.

And now look.

Monica’s mother, Barbara, 88, rested in peace in January, 2025….Monica’s boys became men…

…and Monica became a world record holder in the shot put.

With  almost 12 months to train beginning in late winter 2025, Kendall set a shot put world record (W70-74) at the 2026 USATF Masters Indoor Championships in Albuquerque in February. 

Three weeks ago in Geneva, Ohio, Monica set the outdoor world record in the shot at the 2026 USATF Masters Outdoors Championships (37.13 feet).

“Yeah, I do,” Kendall said when asked if it felt like she was making up for lost time. “If it didn't fit in the schedule with my kids' activities, or my mom's health, I didn't do track. 

“Life's an adventure. You have to take what life throws at you and do the best you can.”

It was an adventure at nationals three weeks ago because Monica has asthma and the air in Geneva was full of smoke from wildfires. The first two days of the meet were cancelled. Even sitting in a hotel room there was a chance of smoke seeping in. As it was, Kendall had a persistent cough for two weeks after she returned home to Millville, Ca.

On Sunday afternoon, the last day of the meet, Monica threw the shot 11.32 meters, or 37.13 feet, and broke the world record of 11.09 by Romania’s Mihaela Loghin, a silver medalist in the shot in the 1984 Olympics. 

Loghin, 74, has dominated the shot put in Masters and still holds world records at 55 years old, 60, and 65….

…but no longer at 70.

Kendall is the only woman over 70 to throw the shot further than 10 meters this outdoor season.

“I was surprised with the throw, but I still have more in me,” Monica said. “I know I do because my technique is off. If I could just get one throw where everything groups together, I would be happy. I still haven't gotten the feeling of ‘oh that was easy’.”

Kendall has finished an indoor or outdoor season ranked No.1 in the world eight times since 2013, even with limited workouts. She has gone from very good to great the last year  but, still, that 11.32 meter throw three weeks ago was not her ceiling, she said. 

“Nope,” Kendall said. “I just felt like it wasn't. I haven't gathered myself in the shot. I'm trying to get that flip of my wrist, and I still just haven't gotten a throw where it just kind of flips off my wrist, and off the end of my fingers.”

**

Here is a Geezer Jock thing:

DIY.

There are no facilities for Monica to practice the shot put, discus, or javelin in Millville (population 724, 2020 census). So she asked her husband, Rod, for one gift at Christmas. A true shot put ring. It was Do It Yourself.

“I saw online where you could build yourself your own little shot put ring, kind of a wooden just little mini-ring,” Kendall said. “He built that, so that I just drag it outside, and when the weather's good, I throw outside on our property.”

Here is something else about her effort in Geneva. On bad knees and with a sore left hip, Monica won a gold medal in the discus and a silver medal in the javelin. Kendall is No. 3 in the world in the javelin for women 70-74 and No. 6 in the discus.

Monica is self-taught in the throws, which is hard to believe because Kendall’s home town helped Eugene, Oregon become track & field capital of the U.S. She is from Beaverton, Oregon, which gave plenty of space to grow to the behemoth company called NIKE, so that Eugene could became the track & field capital of the U.S. 

Kendall went to Portland State in Oregon, but wasn’t coached. She transferred to San Diego State where she thought maybe there was some coaching. Nope.

So she did what many women her age did—and men, too—she read the Classics, but not Shakespeare or Hemingway…but Doherty.

Ken Doherty, the legendary coach and director of The Penn Relays, first published in 1971 The Track & Field Omnibook, a bible for the sport. 

“I studied that because, let's face it, there was no YouTube, there was no nothing, and I just studied that and went from there,” Monica said. “And I just picked up bits and pieces from different people.”

Kendall has natural power and explosiveness through the hips. That power is helped along because she at least kept up weight training those years as a caregiver. 

And here is another imperative, or DIY for Geezer Jocks: 

“When I do strength training, I try to make sure that I hit my hips and my legs to keep the musculature all strong, so I don't have issues,” she said. “I know an orthopedic surgeon would tell me 'You should get your knees done', but I'm not in that much pain, and because I've kept up my weight training, my legs, my quads, and my hamstrings, and everything are strong, I can support my bones.”

Monica has been No. 1 in the world in previous years in the shot put, but until this year she could not get on the same pedestal as Romania’s Loghin. Now, with more training, the caregiver is being rewarded with a spot alongside the best in the world. Just how far can she throw the shot?