The crashing of metal plates and labored grunts emit from where Cameron Kalaf and Leonardo Ramos lift at Colorado State track and field practice.

It’s enough to make even the most veteran lifters in the program stop and stare.

The former Division II athletes came to the Rams’ track and field program with parallel stories. Kalaf transferred as a quarterback and javelin thrower from Colorado Mesa University. Ramos edge-rushed for Colorado State University Pueblo and threw hammer.

They were only familiar with each other at the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships, in which they competed against each other in February. After they committed to CSU, a friendship born from common experience began.

“Leo and I definitely feed off each other’s energy and push each other — no doubt,” Kalaf said. “There is one goal when we enter the weight room, and it’s to be better than we were walking into it. That goes for (a) day-in, day-out mentality.”

No collaboration went into choosing CSU, but the transfer portal brought the RMAC boys — as coach Brian Bedard calls them — together. Strength coach Adam Parsons recognized their similarities and paired them for lifts.

A spot is reserved for them at team lifts. Parsons named it the RMAC rack.

“The RMAC rack is not just any weightlifting rack,” Ramos said. “It’s a battleground forged from steel and grit; this rack is built for two athletes who live and breathe intensity.”

Despite javelin being an afterthought, Kalaf caught on quickly — so quickly he won the RMAC championship for javelin his first season. A concussion and three dislocated fingers in Kalaf’s nonthrowing hand during his second year of football convinced him to focus on track the following season.

“As football players it’s like, ‘Get hit. Whatever. You’re good. Keep playing.’”  –Cameron Kalaf, CSU track and field javelin thrower

Kalaf said it was always his dream to play Division I football. No matter where he started, he would do everything possible to make it come true. When his injuries arose, that all changed.

“This track thing was so short founded and picked up so fast that the possibilities in my mind — I started getting very curious,” Kalaf said.

Ramos stepped away from football because of an electrolyte deficiency that started in high school. After long practices, his muscles cramped, spasmed and deteriorated. A more competitive level of track and field suited Ramos better than continuing football.

Three hundred and sixteen miles apart, both Ramos and Kalaf decided football was no longer their dream.

“I didn’t want to be the bigger fish in a small pond,” Ramos said. “I wanted to be a decent-sized fish in a big pond.”

Instinctive competitiveness and time on the gridiron developed the pair’s drive to push each other harder than most.

The RMAC boys push each other so hard; in fact, they had to learn when to stop. Football taught them everything about being tough; however, it did not teach grace. When their bodies demanded grace, they ignored it.

“As football players it’s like, ‘Get hit. Whatever. You’re good. Keep playing,’” Kalaf said.

Kalaf and Ramos learned to take time off to improve by listening to their coaches and teammates. In football, they had no trust in the stability of their roster position. If they were hurt hurt, weeks passed before earning their spot back.

“With track coaches, they have a different mindset,” Kalaf said. “If you’re not feeling good that day, maybe it’s good to take a day off. But they still know your value. They still know what you’re capable of, and they will give you that grace.” 

Bedard was the first coach to show Kalaf and Ramos grace.

He often puts the brakes on his athletes’ training regimens. Otherwise, Bedard said, they would try going until their wheels fly off. His goal is to ensure each athlete knows their physical and mental limits.

“(Kalaf) tried to tough through a bicep injury; I was like, ‘How come I’m seeing that on the injury report, and you didn’t tell me about it?’” Bedard said. “Because that’s stuff that I can tweak in his training.”

Moving from the structure of football practice to track was an adjustment for Kalaf and Ramos. On a 100-person football roster, Ramos said there was little time for a coach to work individually with players.

Because of tailored advice from coaches and teammates at CSU, Kalaf and Ramos received something they never had: feedback.

“In football culture (and) in some areas, it’s like a military aspect, like, ‘Shut up. Let’s go. Let’s do it,’” Ramos said. “We love that. … But on the track, there’s 10 of us out there we need to correlate, back and forth, like, ‘How do feel? What was that? What did you see?’”

Kalaf and Ramos are ambitious throwers. Kalaf said he is looking to compete at the NCAA national championship in javelin first, hammer second. Ramos said he wants to become an All-American athlete.

Bedard said he is more of a pessimist about the two’s ambitions. Each athlete starts at a baseline where he sets realistic goals. Bedard identifies key qualities in each athlete before he considers their ability to compete at a higher level. It may seem negative, but that is how he improves them.

“There is kind of a running joke if someone’s having a big day at practice,” Bedard said. “I’ll say, ‘I’m putting a pair of socks in my travel bag for the NCAA championships, but just a pair of socks is all I’m committed to at this point.’ And then if they have a tough day, I say, ‘You know what? I’m taking my socks back out of the bag because I don’t know yet.’”

Still, Bedard said he is glad the RMAC boys are dreamers. Regardless of what Bedard says, Ramos and Kalaf probably can’t hear him when the weights are slamming down on the RMAC rack.

“It’s where the hardest workers on the planet collide, pushing each other to the absolute limit,” Ramos said.

Reach Adam Gross at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter @agrose_22.