Kaleb Henry's coaches at Southern Illinois-Edwardsville want him to try the javelin next season.
So, five weeks ago, the recent graduate of Loup City (Neb.) started experimenting. He borrowed a spear. He did a little research online.
College coaches and throwers were telling him he'd be a natural, but Henry really didn't know much about the event.
“Basically, people just told me to take that pointy thing in your hand and throw it that way,” Henry said.
He threw it the right way Sunday at Burke Stadium — far. Now he's ranked sixth in the nation in the Young Men's (ages 17-18) division this season. Henry, during the final day of competition at the USA Track and Field Region 8 Junior Olympics, unleashed a throw of 187 feet, 2 inches.
That was good enough to win the event by nearly 33 feet over veteran thrower Ben Lindaman of Des Moines. It's also good enough to qualify him for the National Junior Olympics in Greensboro, N.C., July 28-Aug. 2.
How'd Henry do it?
A simple philosophy, some video study with Dad and a little work in the school parking lot.
Things started to click right away for Henry after the coaches at Hastings College let him borrow a javelin for the summer.
He spent hours on the computer with his father watching videos of elite javelin throwers, trying to absorb as much as possible before the state JO meet on Father's Day weekend.
“It's kind of awkward right now,” Henry said. “It's a lot like throwing a baseball, but the finish is like throwing a football.”
Henry said he uses the Loup City High School parking lot as his runway and throws the javelin toward the practice football field.
Hey, if you're good at javelin, why not try the hammer throw, too? Several people have suggested it. But Henry doesn't plan to start that experiment until this fall.
An errant hammer throw, you know, might do a little more damage.
Besides, things are going so well with the javelin that Henry isn't ready to expand his repertoire.
“My throw today would have won the conference meet in college last season,” Henry said. “I'm always up for trying to be the best thrower and compete against the best people, and I'll have that chance at Edwardsville because they're moving to Division I this season.”
In Greensboro, Henry also will throw the discus; he finished third in the event at Burke with a toss of 158-9. He elected not to throw the shot put this weekend.
Henry hasn't totally come out of the blue. He had the state's best discus throw, 179-8, during the high school season and won the Class C championship with a 162-5 throw after finishing second in the shot put the day before at 53-3¼.
“That 53-3 at state was about the best I can do,” Henry said. “I just don't think I can get anymore out of the 12-pounder.”
In other action Sunday, several local sprinters whose fathers are former Nebraska football players put up outstanding marks to earn berths for the national meet.
K.J. Cotton of La Vista, whose father is former NU defensive back Curtis Cotton, lowered the Nebraska Association record in the Bantam Boys (ages 10-and-under) 100-meter dash by winning in 13.43 seconds, .02 faster than Omaha's Shannon Brewer.
Cotton also won the 200 in 27.63, just .07 off the association record of 27.56 run by Danny Guillion of Alliance in 1991. Cotton's older brother, Kenzo, rallied to win the Youth Boys (13-14) 100 in 11.75 over Lincoln's Darian Trout-Brown (11.85), the son of Derek Brown.
Trout-Brown, who owns the national record in the Midget Boys (11-12) 100, bounced back to win the 200 in 23.56. Cotton finished second in both the 200 (24.34) and the 400 (54.33).
“I came up pretty good in the 100 but I started tightening up at the end and didn't want to injure myself so I slowed down,” Trout-Brown said. “During races I'm just more relaxed, because the more relaxed I am the better I run. I don't get stressed out, I just stride out.”
Trout-Brown said he won't be running in Greensboro and instead will compete in the AAU National Junior Olympics in Des Moines next month. At that event, he will only compete against 13-year-olds instead of running in the 13-14 age group set by USATF.
Ahmani Green, Ahman Green's daughter, won both the 100 and 200 in the Midget Girls division. Green took the 100 in 13.06 and edged Tiani Reeves of Gothenburg in the 200, 26.46 to 26.83.
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