WOODBURY — Track and field: a sport where half of the name is forgotten. Many just simply call it track, but there is a reason why it’s “track and field”.
Field events are a crucial part of meets because they rack up a lot of points across the board, and in most cases these events are the difference between winning and losing.
On the track, there are four field events: long jump, triple jump, high jump and pole vault. However, outside of the oval, there’s an additional three events: shot put, discus and javelin.
These throwing events are more often than not out of sight, out of mind.
“The throwers have a huge impact in meets,” girls head coach Arleigh Duff said. “The depth that they have built in the shot put, discus and javelin has helped the team score a lot of points and in the end help us with important [track] meets.”
Even through all their hard work, the throwing events are used mostly as an excuse to be a part of the team.
“A lot of people see throwing as a way to still be involved with track but get out of the running events,” junior thrower Anthony Perez said. “Most [people] assume it’s a lot easier, but in a way it’s almost harder.”
To the untrained eye, throwing events might appear less demanding. But what many don’t realize is the intense precision and dedication involved.
“Throwing events are all about technique,” said senior Grace Schmidheini. “It’s not just about strength, it takes a lot of balance and flexibility.”
One reason for the common misconceptions could be the location of the events.
“Most of the time we don’t have as much attention because the throwing events are typically far away from everyone else,” said senior Emma Jackson.
Despite the distance and lack of support, throwers still appreciate the audience they do get.
“We still have a lot of the parents and significant others of the athletes come over and watch us,” Perez said. “But we understand it’s not the main event.”
Different locations of the events do not downgrade one part of the sport to another. Throwers contribute through points just like the runners do.
“We acquire points just like the rest of the team,” said Schmidheini. “Looking at it in that way, our events don’t seem so different.”
The three throwing events are: shot put, javelin and discus and like any activity, some are harder that others, everyone is skilled in a different field.
“Most people can agree the easiest throwing event is shot put,” said Jackson. “It was the easiest for me to learn and that’s the one we teach first to newcomers”.
The difficulty level for javelin and discus vary by the athlete.
“Javelin is the hardest for me but others would say that discus is harder,” Schmidheini said. “Though javelin requires an insane amount of technique it sometimes is the easiest to understand and feels the most natural because it’s almost like throwing a baseball”.
In all of these events, they matter in the heat of the competition, it’s more than just running.
“Most people don’t understand how big of an impact the throwers have on the league,” said Duff. “Everyone needs to understand that they work hard just like anyone else on the team.”
