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86 IllustrateD volume 24, issue 4 f inches, besting the runner-up by 6 1/2 feet, and then slip- ping back into the background to encourage and cheer on the rest of the team. As of mid-February, Bunch was the nation's leading weight thrower with the top four individ- ual throws in the country. "She seems just like the average girl," Morrison said. "After she wins her Big Ten championships, she'll go to the podium, get her medal and she puts it in her bag. It's like, 'OK, I won it, now back to business.' She's never been the boaster. "I think when people start coming up to her for inter- views, that's when it's like, 'Oh, I did that?' It's kind of a shocker to her. She's definitely really, really humble. I think that is attractive about her to others. She's still personable. Some people lose that, that humbleness, once they see so many times of success, and she's never lost that." When pressed, Bunch will begrudgingly admit it's "kind of awesome" to have won the Big Ten Field Athlete-of-the- Week awards four times this season, more than any Pur- due athlete. When she was told she landed on the watch list for the Bowerman Award, track and field's "Heisman," there was genuine excitement. "Oh really? I've been hoping for that," she said, a wide smile spreading across her face. She's the first Purdue athlete to even get on the watch list for the award, first presented in 2009, that includes both track and field athletes. To actually secure the award, though, work must still be done. Bunch will be the favorite in the shot put and hammer throw at the Big Ten Indoor Championships Feb. 28-March 1 and hopes to contend for a top three spot in both events at the NCAA indoor meet in mid-March. But there's still outdoor season after that — and a chance to three-peat as shot champion in the league be- fore the NCAAs in June. And though Bunch has continually pushed her person- al bests early in this indoor season, McBride is looking for more — even if he already calls her the best female non-javelin thrower in Boilermaker history. She must hit 18 meters in the shot put — as of mid-Feb- ruary, she was within two feet of that — to have a real chance to get an opportunity post-college. It may be a lofty goal, but it was set for a reason. It's attainable. "Once we put all the pieces together, we're expecting some really big throws," McBride said. "She's not where she can be, and she's not happy with it. "If you want to do this sport post-collegiately, you have to be the upper, upper echelon of everybody out there and right now she's good but she's not good enough yet." And that's part of the drive. "I just see it as an unfinished story because I'm not done yet," Bunch said. "I know there's more there. I know I'm going to finish at the top in Purdue history, but I want to make it something great. I don't quite see myself as the best yet because I'm not done. Just thinking about some- one else coming in, I want them to do well, but I want to make it really hard for them to get that. So I'm going to finish this year and not tell myself that I'm the best, but do the best and improve. I don't look at it like I'm the best. "It's not satisfying because you know there's more there." j Ziccarelli Builders, Inc. Construction Planners and Contractors Commercial & Industrial General Contractor LEED Certified Projects Augie Ziccarelli, CEM 1981 One Overlook Point, Lincolnshire, IL 60069 Phone: 847.913.1000 zicbuilders.com