Missouri S&T now has a national champion in shot put: Owen Fraser. 

He is now the first national champion in the shot put and first indoor national champion in S&T program history with a throw of 19.25 meters during the NCAA Division II Indoor Championships in March. 

Fraser finds it funny that he not only became the first national champion in the school’s history, but did it twice. During the season, he broke the school shot put record — a throw just 12 centimeters short of his distance at nationals. In practice, he even set out a cone to “visualize the distance.”

“I was astonished at how far it actually was. I always think back to how the freshman year version of me would react if I told him how I was doing and what I would be capable of throwing,” Fraser says. “That same logic applied to the future keeps me hungry for more.” 

In terms of this indoor specifically, Fraser says he enjoyed winning this championship more than last year. 

“I had a lot of pressure on myself to compete well, because I was in the position of I could (or should) win, but I wasn’t as dominant as I was in discus last year,” he says. “My main goal was to stay relaxed and I ended up doing well.”

Fraser says he’s been telling people that a win means more when you don’t know that it is going to happen. 

“There were several guys at the meet who were capable of taking the title, so to pull away with it was amazing,” he says. “Winning shot put really kind of overshadows my sixth place finish in the weight throw, but to break the school record in that and earn another All-American award was pretty sweet, too.”

Fraser says one of his favorite parts about the championships is knowing many of the competitors. 

“We were able to have more fun in the practices leading up to the competition. Being able to be surrounded by friendly competitors always makes the big meets more enjoyable,” he says.

In 2025, Fraser launched the discus 60.9 meters, setting the S&T record and tying for the eighth-best mark in NCAA Division II history. 

For Fraser, it’s not all about medals: as a Kummer Vanguard Scholar and 4.0 student in mechanical engineering, it’s about determination.

Fraser says one of the biggest benefits for him has been taking extra time to finish his degree, aiming to graduate in December instead of May. Spreading his coursework over more semesters has let him take 12 credit hours at a time, giving him a better balance as a student athlete.

“In those 12 hours, my professors have been super supportive,” he says. “We had a lot of trouble getting back due to weather, and I was emailing professors at one in the morning, sitting in the parking garage of the Orlando airport asking for extensions and letting them know that I was going to miss class. Dr. Xiaodong Yang and Dr. Doug Carroll were more than happy to help me out, and each congratulated me on my success.”

Since his first year, Fraser has been a Kummer Vanguard Scholar, a program that provides scholarships each year while helping students grow their skills outside the classroom. 

Through the program, Fraser says he has been able to enhance his leadership skills. His favorite apsect of the program is setting goals at the beginning of each semester. 

“Setting those goals and being able to achieve them each semester is neat to have for myself to look back at,” he says.

The goals he set? Maintaining a 4.0 grade point average, qualifying for nationals, becoming a national champion and sharpening his leadership skills.  

Now, he’s achieved all those goals.

Fraser is nothing short of determined when it comes to his track career, but his academic career doesn’t fall short. Time management is one of his strong suits. 

“It’s never fun to be on the road and have to study, take a test or finish an assignment on a bus,” he says. “But that’s one of the things that has helped me, just being able to manage my time well and efficiently, using the short 24 hours in the day.” 

Once the team returned from nationals, Fraser appreciated the campus and community support. 

“Coach Nikki Segrest worked with a lot of people to have a police escort and welcome party for us when we returned,” Fraser says. “It was awesome to see that support for the Miner community.”