Before the crowd pours in, grunts and shouts can be heard in the far corner of a field. Throwers with immense athletic ability, impossible jumps of different heights and lengths, with no one to watch them. This is the reality of those in the field events.
There are six different field events that high school athletes can compete in: shot put, discus, high jump, long jump, triple jump, and pole vault. A shot put (a small solid sphere made of iron or brass) and a discus (a heavy disk) are thrown for the distance to be measured, while the jumping events are measured in length or height.
“The girls throw an 8-pound ball for shot put,” Ci’Anna Gales (12) said. “The discus is like a weighted frisbee.”
There are around 16 Spartans that compete in the field events, with Gales and Anthony Taylor (12) as two of the most prominent athletes. The school has a history of successful athletes, with at least two field players making it to state every year.
“We have about 12 throwers,” Coach TaNia Moore said. “And four to six jumpers right now.”
Coach Moore has been the field and girls track coach since 2017. She asked to become the field coach after being a track and field athlete since she was three-years-old. She knew her experience would help the team improve.
“When the old track coach was over [the team], I saw he had no one helping the throwers,” Moore said. “And that was one of the events I used to compete in, so I just asked to start helping.”
Gales began her track and field journey as a runner but lost her liking for it in high school, so she decided to become a thrower her sophomore year. Teammates have played a vital role in Gales’s journey, helping encourage and train her.
“My teammates from the class of 2022 always check in and help,” Gales said. “They always make sure everything’s going good especially when I don’t feel like I’m doing good.”
Gales broke the school record for the discus at a meet during her junior season in 2023. She first beat it by throwing the discus 110 feet and 7 inches to her own surprise. Her current personal best is 116 feet and 7 inches.
“It was a good day that day,” Gales said. “And from then on it was just PR season.”
On the other hand, Taylor began his track journey last year as a junior. He experimented with different events and found his talent in the long jump event.
“[Coach] just kind of threw me in there.” Taylor said. “To test the waters a little bit.”
Taylor holds the school record for long jump and also achieved it last year as a junior. To his surprise, he reached a personal best of 22 feet 8 inches.
“I love to do it,” Taylor said. “It’s a lot of fun.”
Many people do not know about the field events because they compete before the running meets even begin. The athletes’ usual audience is only a handful of parents and coaches. Even the few who watch them compete may grow bored.
“Peoples’ attention spans are short,” Moore said. “They would rather watch a sprint than a field or distance event.”
Many athletes come to rely on the ‘hype’ of a crowd that motivates them to push their limits and perform at their best. This is especially true for Taylor, who is firstly a football player.
“It would be better to have a bigger audience sometimes,” Taylor said. “There’s more people to encourage you.”
Runners have the luxury of being recorded during their meets. PRs can be shown off, posted, and rewatched. Field athletes are not usually recorded, especially the throwers. Perhaps allowing them the luxury of being videotaped would give them more notoriety.
“You’ll never see a thrower’s video,” Gales said. “All you can do is look at the score and hope you know what it looks like.”