The Thrower from Woodstock: How Kali Terza Became One of America’s Rising Hammer Stars
There is a particular kind of athlete who finds their sport almost by accident — someone who stumbles into a throwing circle for the first time and discovers that this is, improbably, exactly what they were built to do. Kali Terza is that kind of athlete. The Woodstock, Georgia native barely knew what the hammer throw was before a high school coach pointed her in the right direction, and yet within a few short years she was breaking school records at Kennesaw State University, representing Team USA at an international competition, competing alongside Olympians at one of the sport’s most prestigious open meets, and doing it all while building parallel careers in law enforcement studies and — in a development that says everything about the breadth of her personality — professional wrestling. Few college athletes have packed as much story into a few years as Kali Terza.
Background: Growing Up in Woodstock, Georgia
Kali Terza was born on March 6, 2003, and grew up in Woodstock, Georgia, a suburban city in Cherokee County northwest of Atlanta. By her own account, her introduction to organized athletics came young — she joined a local track club at around age nine, entering the sport through the sprint and hurdles events. The explosiveness and athleticism required for sprinting would eventually translate beautifully to the throwing events, but that connection was not yet apparent to anyone, least of all to Terza herself.
She attended Etowah High School in Woodstock, where the track and field program would become a turning point in her athletic life. It was her high school coach who recognized something in her physical profile and suggested she step into the shot put ring. The result was immediate and a bit startling even to her. In her first year throwing the shot put competitively, she finished second at the Georgia state championship.
“I started throwing shot put and ended up finishing second at the state championship in my first year,” Terza recalled. “I remember thinking, ‘Hey, maybe we should stick with this,’ and I have never looked back.”
Despite her limited experience in the throwing events, her combination of raw athleticism, work ethic, and the kind of competitive instinct that places people just slightly outside their comfort zone — and thriving there — caught the attention of college coaches across the Southeast. She ultimately chose to stay close to home and enroll at Kennesaw State University, where she would study criminal justice and compete for the Owls’ track and field program under head coach Cale McDaniel and assistant coach Mike Judge.
Arriving at Kennesaw State: The Freshman Year (2021-22)
Terza arrived on the KSU campus as a relatively inexperienced thrower with enormous upside. The coaching staff, particularly McDaniel, recognized what they had. “While she is still relatively new to the sport, she is very ambitious and brings a ton of energy every day,” McDaniel would later reflect. “Kali stands out without really having to try; being special just comes naturally to her.”
Her freshman indoor season showed early promise, as she competed in the weight throw and placed in the ASUN Indoor Track and Field Championships, earning Third Team All-Conference honors with a throw of 17.58 meters. During the outdoor portion of the year, she found the hammer throw — the event that would come to define her collegiate career — and immediately made a mark. She won the hammer throw at the Don McGarey Invitational with a personal-best toss of 52.27 meters in her first season, then finished second at the ASUN Conference Championships with a throw of 56.53 meters. Before the ink was dry on her freshman year, she had already set personal records that signaled more was coming.
The Sophomore Breakthrough (2022-23)
Terza’s sophomore season announced her on a much larger stage. The 2022-23 year was the one where she stopped being a promising thrower and started being a dominant one.
Indoors, she placed third in the weight throw at the ASUN Championships, setting a personal best of 12.98 meters in the shot put at the ASUN meet — a mark that would remain her shot put personal best. Her weight throw distances climbed consistently: 18.19 meters at the Doc Hale VT Meet, 18.73 meters at the Bob Pollock, and a personal best of 19.00 meters at the Music City Challenge. She was building the foundation for what would come outside.
The outdoor season was where everything came together. She posted her first 60-plus-meter hammer throw — 61.91 meters at the KSU Invitational, then 62.22 meters at the Samford Alabama Track Challenge. At the ASUN Conference Outdoor Championships, she won the hammer throw title, the first of what would become multiple conference championships. The achievement did not stop there: she qualified for and competed in the 2023 NCAA Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Championships, standing in a field of throwers from programs like Oregon, UCLA, and Georgia while wearing the KSU logo on her chest. She later described that moment as one of the most memorable of her college career.
“I remember going to the nationals and being surrounded by schools like Oregon, UCLA, and Georgia, and then seeing KSU on the same stage,” she said.
She also earned a spot on the Under-20 USA Track and Field team that year — a significant national recognition that confirmed her standing among America’s best young hammer throwers. She had broken the school record and was named an All-American. In two years, she had gone from a high schooler who had never thrown a hammer to a nationally recognized competitor in the event. The trajectory was as steep as almost anyone in the sport.
The Detour: Injuries and Adversity (2023-24)
Just as Terza seemed positioned to build on her 2023 breakthrough and push toward a national title, her body had other plans. Chronic leg pain that had been building over time required a serious medical response, and she underwent surgery on both knees — a significant procedure that sidelined her for the entire 2024 outdoor season. The timing was devastating. She had qualified for the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials, and surgery came weeks before she would have had the chance to compete. That door closed before she could walk through it.
Just as she was working her way back to full health, she broke her foot in training. Two surgeries and a broken bone in the space of a single athletic year would test anyone’s commitment, and Terza was not immune to the mental challenge of it all. But the indoor season of 2023-24 told a different story about her resilience: despite the surgeries and recovery, she competed in the weight throw and won the ASUN Indoor Championship with a personal-record toss of 20.59 meters — by far her best indoor distance to that point. Even hampered, she was still winning conference titles.
The experience of watching a season slip away, of qualifying for the Olympics and then having surgery rather than competing, of fighting through multiple injury setbacks — these experiences reshaped something in her. When she reflected on it later, she described it not as a loss but as a transformation. “The mental, emotional, and physical rest was exactly what I needed to unlock my competitive spirit,” she said.
The Senior Season: A Full Return (2024-25)
If there was any concern that the 2024 injuries had taken something from Kali Terza’s ability to throw, the 2024-25 season resolved it decisively. She came back healthier and throwing farther than she ever had before.
The senior outdoor season was a sustained campaign of excellence. She claimed outright victories at multiple high-profile invitational meets, including the Don McGarey Invitational (64.68m), the Crimson Tide Invitational (64.39m), and the Georgia Tech Invitational (64.98m). She finished second at the Yellow Jacket Invitational and the East Coast Relays, and she won the hammer throw at the KSU Invitational. In meet after meet, she was finishing on the podium.
At the Conference USA Outdoor Track and Field Championship — KSU had moved from the ASUN Conference to C-USA — she finished second in the hammer throw with a toss of 62.88 meters, earning the silver medal. Then, at the NCAA Division I East Regional First Round, she threw a career-best 66.75 meters (219 feet, 0 inches) — a mark that demonstrated her full recovery and then some. That performance helped her qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Championships, where she placed 13th with a throw of 64.98 meters and earned second-team All-American honors.
By her own count, she had broken the KSU school record in the hammer throw 18 times over the course of her collegiate career. She was a three-time conference champion. She was an All-American. She had fought through two knee surgeries and a broken foot to stand at the NCAA Championships among the nation’s elite.
The academic record matched the athletic one. She graduated in May 2025 with a degree in criminal justice and a minor in cybersecurity, carrying a 3.76 grade point average. She was named the Conference USA Women’s Track and Field Scholar-Athlete of the Year — the first athlete in Kennesaw State program and department history to earn that honor. She also received a C-USA Medal of Honor and was named to the CUSA Academic Honor Roll and the CSC All-District team. For a university that has been building its athletic identity, Terza represented exactly the kind of student-athlete that programs aspire to develop.
Representing Team USA: FISU World University Games (2025)
The summer following graduation brought one of the most meaningful experiences of Terza’s athletic life. She was selected to represent Team USA at the FISU World University Summer Games, held in July 2025 in the Rhine-Ruhr region of Germany — one of the largest multi-sport events in the world for university-enrolled athletes, with roughly 8,500 competitors from more than 150 nations competing across 18 sports. Athletics events were held at the Lohrheidestadion in Bochum.
Terza competed in the women’s hammer throw for Team USA, throwing in qualification group A. The experience of wearing the American uniform at an international competition — a dream she had nursed through two knee surgeries and a broken foot — was a milestone that words could not fully capture. The World University Games gave her a foretaste of what Olympic-level international competition looks like: the atmosphere, the scale, the standard of competition from nations across the globe.
“I am going to represent Team USA at the World games in Dusseldorf, Germany at the end of July,” she had told FOX 5 Atlanta that spring, the anticipation clearly evident. She returned from Germany with her eyes set firmly on the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
The Graduate Year: Breaking Records Again (2025-26)
Rather than departing KSU after graduation, Terza returned for a graduate student year — pursuing a postgraduate degree in cybersecurity while continuing to compete for the Owls in what has become an extraordinary final chapter of her collegiate career.
The 2025-26 indoor season opened with an immediate statement. At the Clemson Opener on December 5, 2025, she broke her own school record in the weight throw by nearly three feet, winning the event with a mark of 21.71 meters — later improving that to 21.94 meters (70 feet, 5.75 inches). The Conference USA program described her performance as highlighting the entire opening weekend for KSU. She was subsequently named the Conference USA Women’s Field Athlete of the Week for the week of December 9, 2025.
The outdoor season picked up right where the indoor season left off. She won the hammer throw at the first three meets of the 2026 outdoor season, and in doing so she broke the KSU school record she had entered the season with — twice. On April 4, 2026, at the Florida Relays held at Percy Beard Track in Gainesville — one of the most storied venues on the collegiate track and field calendar — she threw 69.05 meters (226 feet, 6 inches), winning the event against a field that included throwers from Illinois, Auburn, Florida, and Liberty, and setting what was at that point the new KSU school record. It was her best throw ever. She was named Conference USA Women’s Field Athlete of the Week for the week of April 7.
By late April, World Athletics ranked her 75th in the world in the women’s hammer throw — a meaningful indication of where she stands in the global hierarchy of the event. KSU subsequently announced she would compete at the Drake Relays in Des Moines on April 24 as part of the World Athletics Continental Tour portion of the event — a portion of the program that draws Olympians, world champions, and national champions. Drake’s announcement described her as a “former NCAA All-American” alongside Olympic hammer throwers from multiple nations. She was, not for the first time in her career, on the same stage as the best in the world.
The WWE Chapter: From TikTok to the Ring
Track and field does not often produce stories quite like this one, but Kali Terza has never been a conventional story. Somewhere along the way, she posted a video on TikTok of herself squatting a grown man on her shoulders. The clip went viral — 5.6 million views and a million likes. The internet noticed her strength and personality, and so did someone at World Wrestling Entertainment.
WWE reached out to discuss an opportunity, and what followed was a three-year deal through WWE’s “Next In Line” NIL program, which identifies college athletes with the athleticism and charisma to potentially become the next generation of WWE superstars. Terza signed on.
“I’ve never done wrestling or anything before, but they reached out to me because I posted a video on TikTok of me squatting a guy on my shoulders,” she told FOX 5 Atlanta. “A lot of people were kind of noticing my strength and charisma, and WWE reached out to me and said they wanted to talk to me.”
The program involves training camps in Orlando where participants learn the basics of professional wrestling — how to work the ropes, how to develop a character and signature moves, how to present themselves on a microphone. Terza has embraced it with the same enthusiasm she applies to everything else. “I didn’t know anything about the WWE at first, but as I started learning more I was hooked,” she said.
Her Instagram bio now reads: “Team USA Athlete 🇺🇸 NCAA All-American | Hammer Throw | WWE NIL – Next In Line.” It is as succinct a summary of an unusual portfolio as one is likely to find in collegiate athletics.
Law Enforcement, Academics, and Community
The third thread running through Terza’s story is a commitment to public service that predates both her athletic rise and her unexpected WWE contract. She spent a year as an intern with the Kennesaw Police Department, an experience that deepened her investment in the field she had studied in the classroom.
“I ended up loving law enforcement,” she said. “I actually got really invested in it, what they do, how they help the community, particularly with community engagement.”
Her plan is to hold her law enforcement ambitions in reserve for after her athletic career concludes — whenever that may be. “I’m probably going to have to put a hold on law enforcement and pursue my athletic career, and once I’m done I’ll come back and do a little bit of law enforcement.” The Conference USA Scholar-Athlete honor she received underscores just how seriously she has taken her academic obligations alongside her athletic ones — earning her degree with a 3.76 GPA while competing at a nationally elite level, recovering from multiple surgeries, and managing a growing public profile.
Looking Ahead: LA 2028 in Sight
Kali Terza has said clearly that her long-term athletic goal is the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. She qualified for the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials before the knee surgeries took that opportunity away, and the lesson she has drawn from that experience is not bitterness but determination. She knows now what it takes to get there, and she knows what can go wrong. The 2025-26 season has been a demonstration that when she is healthy and focused, she belongs in the conversation among America’s best hammer throwers.
A personal best of 69.05 meters places her in the range of genuine national-level competition. The world standard required to reach the Olympic Games is a marker she is working toward with every meet of her graduate season, and the arc of her improvement — from a high schooler who had never thrown a hammer to a national-stage competitor with a viral social media following and a WWE deal — suggests that the story is far from over.
“After everything I’ve been through, every throw feels like a reminder of how far I’ve come,” Terza said in the spring of 2025. “It’s not just about competing anymore. It’s about showing up every day, pushing my limits, and being a better version of myself both on and off the field.”
Social Media and Sponsorships
Kali Terza is active on Instagram under the handle @kaliterza, where she had accumulated more than 59,000 followers as of early 2026. Her bio describes her as a Team USA Athlete, NCAA All-American in hammer throw, and a participant in WWE’s Next In Line NIL program. She is also active on TikTok, where the viral video that launched her WWE opportunity demonstrated the kind of organic reach that comes from genuine personality as much as any intentional strategy. Her primary sponsorship relationship is with WWE through the Next In Line NIL program — a deal she signed in 2025 on the strength of her social media presence and athletic profile.
Career Highlights
- Born: March 6, 2003 | Hometown: Woodstock, Georgia | High School: Etowah High School
- College: Kennesaw State University (ASUN / Conference USA, NCAA Division I)
- Major / Minor: Criminal Justice (B.S., 3.76 GPA, May 2025); Cybersecurity (minor); Postgraduate: Cybersecurity
- Events: Hammer throw (primary), weight throw, shot put
- Personal bests: Hammer throw — 69.05m (226’6″), set April 4, 2026, Florida Relays; Weight throw — 21.94m (70’5.75″), set December 5, 2025, Clemson Opener; Shot put — 12.98m (42’7″), set February 25, 2023
- World Athletics ranking: #75 women’s hammer throw (as of April 2026)
- Conference championships: 3× ASUN Conference hammer throw champion (including 2023); 2024 ASUN Indoor weight throw champion; 2025 CUSA Indoor weight throw champion
- NCAA: 2023 NCAA Outdoor Championships qualifier; 2025 NCAA Outdoor Championships 13th place (2nd Team All-American)
- International: Under-20 USA Track and Field team (2023); Team USA at FISU World University Summer Games, Bochum, Germany (2025)
- Academic honors: 2025 CUSA Women’s Track and Field Scholar-Athlete of the Year (first in KSU program history); CSC All-District; CUSA Academic Honor Roll; CUSA Medal of Honor
- School records: Broken the KSU school record in the hammer throw 18+ times across her career
- WWE: Signed three-year deal with WWE’s “Next In Line” NIL program (2025)
- Social media: Instagram & TikTok: @kaliterza
