STARKVILLE — April Thomas needed a starting point.
When she took over as the Mississippi State track and field throwing coach eight years ago, she looked back on her career at Cloud County (Kansas) Community College and Tennessee and chose javelin — the event she didn’t do well as an student-athlete.
Now she’s leading a group of throwers that has re-branded MSU as Jav U.
MSU is the first program in NCAA history to have three javelin throwers all record throws of longer than 79 meters. Curtis Thompson did it in 2016, setting the school record at 82.88 meters. Anderson Peters and Nicolas Quijera achieved the feat last week at the Southeastern Conference Championships, as Peters won with a mark of 82.04 and Quijera finished third (75.09).
“Every time we go to a meet, we know we have to do well for the team,” Quijera said. “I like being part of the focus. We perform under pressure pretty well.”
MSU has made history without Thompson, the school’s record holder in the javelin, who is injured and missing what would have been his senior season. Thompson has turned into an assistant coach of sorts for Thomas, which gives her even more knowledge.
Thomas started to apply her studies about how to throw the javelin to walk-ons and started seeing returns before Thompson, who is from Florence, New Jersey, emerged as one of the nation’s top javelin throwers as a freshman. Thompson then played a role in helping Thomas find the men who have helped MSU become Jav U.
“That’s why I’m here,” Quijera said of Thompson and Thomas.
Thomas’ success with Thompson opened international recruiting possibilities, which led to finding Quijera in Spain in the same year and Peters in Grenada. Their arrival came as Thomas’ understanding of the javelin and confidence in how to coach it were growing. She learned how athletes are comfortable in different regimens and needed to be trained accordingly. For example, some prefer to throw many times a week, while others like to limit their throws and to spend time on weight and speed training.
Now, it’s more than a pet project. It’s a growing brand to uphold.
“It makes me keep going as a coach because even though I have a good group, I have to make sure I’m still learning,” Thomas said. “I’m reaching out to some of the best jav coaches not only in this country, but in the world to better myself.”
MSU’s current group is ready to live up to and to build on the reputation it has earned.
“Being such elite athletes, we are expected to put on a good show and not only represent our school and ourselves, but our countries,” Peters said, hinting that the strong SEC performance didn’t live up to the expectations they had for themselves. “The plan was to go and come back 1-2.”
Peters and Quijera and the rest of the Bulldogs are preparing for the NCAA East Preliminaries on May 24-26 in Tampa, Florida. Thomas said the team trained through the SEC Championships, meaning it didn’t time its training cycle to end then but to get the athletes to peak in time for the NCAA Championships.
“I still have a lot I can change,” Peters said. “I’m struggling so far. I’m only able to get one or two throws over 80 meters or one or two throws straight to the tip to give my team the most distance. There’s a lot I can work on: my speed, the positioning of the javelin, the angle I’m striking the javelin at.”
Regional qualifiers
Nineteen Mississippi State track and field athletes will see their season continue in Tampa, Fla. next weekend at the NCAA East Prelims. The Bulldogs also qualified both the men’s and women’s 4x400m relays along with the men’s 4x100m relay.
The NCAA is divided into east and west qualifying regions with the Top 48 individuals and the Top 24 relays in each being accepted into their respective preliminary meet.The Top 12 athletes and relays in each event will advance to the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Ore., on June 6-9.
MSU put 14 men into the first round of competition. Most notably, all four of the Bulldogs’ 400m hurdlers qualified, with three of those among the Top 15 in the East. Ro’Derick Spears pushed himself to No. 10 in the region in the 110m hurdles with a school-record 13.65 at last week’s SEC Championships. He will be joined by senior Willie-Lionel Reed in that event.
The Bulldogs’ history-making javelin program will send NCAA-leader Anderson Peters and SEC Co-Scholar-Athlete of the Year Nicolas Quijera, to the competition. The two have not finished lower than third at any meet this season, and at least one of them has won every competition MSU has participated in this year. High jumper Reggie Miller rounds out the field athletes for the men.
In the sprints, Juston Waters and Karson Kowalchuk have qualified for the 200m. Kowalchuk will also run the 100m. In the 800m, SEC silver medalist and MSU freshman record holder Marco Arop will join Dejon Devroe, who finished sixth at indoor nationals. Stephen Jones will run the 5000m.
On the women’s side, Rhianwedd Price-Weimer led the NCAA in the 1500m through the final week of the season before being pushed down to second. The 2015 national champion in the event is back in the hunt after claiming the SEC crown last weekend.
n Ole Miss track & field will have yet another large group advance to the regional meet as 29 Rebel athletes have qualified in 30 events for the 2018 NCAA East Region Preliminary Round Championships.
Leading the way for the Rebel women is senior Janeah Stewart, who will triple for the second-straight year in the hopes of tripling yet again at the national meet. Stewart, one of two throwers to do so at nationals in 2017, enters as the East Region leader in the shot put at her new PR of 17.97m (58-11.50), while also qualifying as the No. 2 performer in the hammer (67.70m/222-01) and No. 11 in the discus (54.91m/180-02).
Ole Miss holds three top-10 marks on the men’s side, led by senior and SEC champion Robert Domanic. The fastest 1500-meter runner in the United States this season, Domanic enters the East Region meet with the top time at 3:36.33 – the ninth-fastest time in NCAA history. Freshman Waleed Suliman gives the Rebels a strong one-two punch in the 1500, ranking as the second-fastest behind Domanic at 3:39.76. A total of five Rebel men will compete in the 1500, as following Domanic and Suliman are freshman Cade Bethmann (24th, 3:44.56), senior Trevor Gilley (31st, 3:44.81) and freshman Everett Smulders (42nd, 3:45.45).
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brett Hudson on Twitter @Brett_Hudson
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 34 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 34 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
