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She is also the first University of Houston woman to earn All-America honors in the hammer throw.

\"My daughter kept me motivated. Every day I got up I was like, 'I'm doing this for her,'\" said Martin. \"I don't want her to feel like momma couldn't do it. I wanted her to see that I did it.\"

Martin described Camryn as the \"team baby\" and said she is a frequent presence on the sidelines at her track and field meets.

\"All my teammates just welcomed her in and that's when I was like, 'OK, I'm meant to do this,'\" Martin said. \"She runs around everywhere and everyone takes her everywhere [at the meets]. She's in heaven.\"

\"PHOTO:
Stephen Pinchback for University of Houston
PHOTO: Mikaila Martin poses for a photo with her daughter Camryn and University of Houston Track & Field head coach Leroy Burrell.
>

Will Blackburn, associate head coach for the Houston track and field program, recruited Martin out of high school and has been by her side as she became a mom.

\"When we found out she was pregnant, on our side, nothing changed,\" he said. \"We thought, 'Let's go on, let's go after your goals and aspirations.'\"

As a coach, Blackburn said he noticed a change in Martin on the field as her life changed away from it.

\"I know it was tough on her, no doubt, in part because the time management was totally different,\" he said. \"[After becoming a mom] she had an hour or hour-and-a-half practice time and that was it.\"

\"She was extremely focused and it spilled over into competition,\" Blackburn added. \"Her focus improved a lot and her skill improved greatly.\"

Martin, who plans to go pro after she finishes graduate school, said she has noticed herself how much she has improved as a hammer thrower since becoming a mom.

\"In the beginning, I thought, 'I'm not the same athlete I used to be,' but I learned to work with my body and once I did that, that's when things started to come into play,\" she said. \"And you really are more focused as a mom because before Camryn, I used to be so nervous at track meets, I would shake. Now, I'm so in the zone and focused and I never used to feel like that.\"

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