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June 12, 2005

Arlington, 2005

I had a very slow start to the day. My first two events to throw were the heavy and light hammer, and I had an absolute suck day with them. And by absolute suck, I mean, the worse competition throws I have ever had with those particular implements. I came in 16th (Heavy) and 20th (Light) out of a field of 20. This did not set a happy tone for the rest of the day, since Arlington is an elimination competition - after the first five events, only the top 10 competitors advance to the final three events. But the Hammers are my weakest events. They are the one event I never get to practice, and I just could not get myself comfortable with them this year. I don't know why, but I was just not stretching out well at all.

Braemar Stone helped advance me up the placings some. I don't know what my actual positioning was in that event, but it was still worse than the 10th place cut line. I was not feeling very positive about the rest of the day, though I know my best two events (The weights for Distance) are coming up.

My first attempt on Heavy Weight for Distance was amazing. To me, the throw felt like it sucked, but everything must have come together because I put the weight out well past all the other throwers. Okay, in this case, there were only two throwers prior to me, but I nearly doubled one of their distances (Sorry, Coop). It is good this first throw did so well, because my next two attempts at this event failed horribly. I fouled my second throw with a beautiful body-roll out of the box (They marked where I landed with an unused flag) and my final attempts was just weak. For a while, it looked as though my first throw was going to take the day, but one of the other competitors, on his final attempt, managed to get the weight out past mine. So a first place finish wasn't in the cards for me, but the person who came out ahead of me was already ahead of me, so that didn't matter. The second place finish really boosted my overall chances of making the cut.

Light Weight for Distance started out similarly. I had a very impressive throw - though it did not take people as long to catch up to me as with the previous event. In fact, by the end of the first round, I was in third place. I make my second throw, and add about six inches of distance - not enough to move up a placing, but if I improve by the same amount on my next throw, and the person in second place does not improve, I can move into his spot. It is not to be, however, and the two people who are ahead of me manage to stay there, so I take third. I am still not unhappy, though I'm afraid that as pitiful as my hammer throws were, third place may not get me into the cut.

But it does. Miraculously. I do not know my overall placing, but it's above the line. I beat out both Coop and D-Pak and advance to the final five events.

So we begin the Caber competition. The stick we're throwing looks like a toothpick. It's 18" 9' long, but is only about two inches thick. It's still got bark over most of it and it's very wobbly. It was not difficult to pick up - it weighed 65 - 70 pounds, but the wobble made it difficult to balance. My first attempt resulted in a spectacular Caber-for-Height throw, but, unfortunately resulted in a mere 40-degree toss. That's alright. The first Caber throw is always a 'get to know you' throw. After the first round, there were two rotations: a 10:00 and an 11:30. My second toss comes around, and I own the stick. Everything falls together perfectly and I score a 12:00 rotation. Things are looking well, but then the guy who got the 10:00 on the first round also scores a 12:00. Damnation and Hellfire. My third throw comes up and I score an 11:30. Back into first place. But it's tenuous. All the other 12:00 thrower has to do is rotate to win. But the Gods are With Me, and he makes a 40-degree throw, and I walk away with a gold medal.

Height events are coming up. I am determined to make 12' in Weight for Height. I nearly had it at Scarborough. But first, there is the Sheaf. I immediately do better than last year, wherein I did not even make the opening height of 16'. This year, I easily make the opening height of 18', then go on to make 20'. 22', however, proves to be my undoing, and I go to rest for Weight for Height.

WFH opens at 9 feet. I pass and choose to come in at 10'. It comes around to me again, and I set the weight where I want it, then try to pick it up with my throwing hand - and it hurts. A lot. I do not know what happened, or when it happened, but I twisted or pulled something and I can barely hold on to the weight. I immediately know that I am not going to make 12'. I barely make 10 feet - it took me all three attempts. Then, oddly enough, I make 11' on my first go. I pretty much resign myself to being done, but then they make an unexpected move - they only set the bar to 11' 6". There is an old man in the group, and he's going for a World Record in his age group. This is good for me. I can easily make 11-6. I had that weight handily beat at Scarborough. But there's that pain in my arm. I give it three valiant throws, but I am again stymied by the glass-ceiling of 11'

My results, at the end of the day, compared to last year:

                            2004        2005
Braemar                     23' 11"     22' 7"
Hvy Wght for Dist           20' 3"      24' 6.5"*
Lght Wght for Dist          40' 6.25    44' 1.25"*
Hvy Hammer                  56' 2"      49" 7"
Lght Hammer                 66' 8"      56' 3"
Caber                       65-deg      12:00 -- 18' 9"x65#
Sheaf                       DNQ         20'  -- 16#*
Wght for Hght               11'         11'

To sum-up: I took Gold in Caber, Silver in Heavy Weight for Distance and Bronze in Light Weight for Distance and set a new Personal Record in both Heavy and Light Weight for Distance, Sheaf, and Caber. This is improvement over last year, when I took no medals at all in Arlington.

In one week (18 June, 2005), I compete in the town where I graduated High School - Huntsville, Alabama. My mother will finally get to see me throw, as will a couple of friends from High school.

My friend Jessie will be headed out with me. He throws as a 'B' here in Texas, which is a class better than the 'C' group I throw in. At Huntsville, we'll be competing against one another because they have only one class of competition.

But I think it will be a good day for me.

Posted by Shannon on June 12, 2005 10:38 PM

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