Forney Area Throws Club

Fall practice schedule will resume this week, every Tuesday and Thursday from 5:30-7pm at FHS.

USATF National Junior Olympic Championships
Part 2️⃣

🤠 🐄 Texas A&M University- College Station 🌞 🥵

🚨🚨🚨 PR ALERT 🚨🚨🚨

Lily and Thaddeus competed Saturday night and Sunday morning to finish out our summer of throws. They both faced some incredible competition for their age groups and needed to throw big to make finals.

Lily opened with a great 102’2” and improved to 103’3” on her second attempt. She would need a high 107’ to get top 8, but her last attempt didn’t fly far enough. While it was within her capabilities to sneak into finals, this was still Lily’s second furthest meet ever and she shows great consistency in her throws. From here on out she will compete using the “full technique”- as she has been limited to 3/4 attempts in order to build a stronger base.

With great joy we witnessed Sidney secure a spot in the finals as she earned her first All American status! 🎉 🥏 💫 She is the daughter of one of my high school teammates from the Sacramento area and has a bright throwing future ahead of her. Both girls seemed to instantly click as friends and will hopefully see each other at many major competitions over the years.

Thaddeus opened up with a foul as many of the further throwers did in his flight. He got a mark outside of the top 8 with 82’6” on his second attempt. Many of the boys seemed to be fighting foul trouble and/or being a bit under their bests. Thaddeus saved his furthest throw for last by going 87’5” which earned him the 8th position until the very next thrower bumped him into his final placing position of 9th. While 87’5” is a PR, Thaddeus has thrown too many times in the 90’-95’ range for him to be happy about his performance. I believe being the first one out of finals was the main reason for that. He too will have months to train the full throw before getting his first middle school field and track meet.

USATF National Junior Olympic Championships

🤠 🐄 Texas A&M University- College Station 🥵 ☔️

🎉 2️⃣ Fatletes finishing top 1️⃣0️⃣ out of 5️⃣5️⃣❗️

🇺🇸 🦅 USATF All American Honors 🏅🥏

In yet another wacky USATF meet week, featuring as many weather delays, postponements and schedule changes as there are States being represented, we were lucky to have an uninterrupted competition, and so lucky to not be an event that finished at 1:00 am! 😫

Brooklyn was seeded in the third flight due to her shorter throw coming out of last competition, and Carly in the fourth flight with all the top girls. With flights of 15, Brooke knew she had to be the early leader and put up a throw that could hold if she wanted to be top 8 and move to finals. After two attempts, Brooke was 6th and had her back up against the wall. Her third attempt was exactly what she needed and she jumped way out in front with a 128’1” toss, leading the current competition by 6’. Then came the grueling sit and wait game. Many girls with huge potential came up just short and Brooke moved on in that last qualifying spot. While she didn’t improve her ranking, she improved her performance by hitting 129’11”. The time in between her third throw and sixth throw was 1 hr and 25 minutes. 😳

Carly started the fourth flight with a competitive toss, which was mishandled by the officials. I guesstimate it to have been 123’ or 124’. Owning up to their mistake, Carly did get another “first” attempt but fouled it. She had a foul on her second attempt too and needed to throw a high 120s to make finals. Her third attempt was a quality 122’5”, but it only earned her ninth place. Another thrower would move her down to the tenth position a few throws later. Without a doubt that issue from the first attempt disrupted Carly’s flow. She had thrown 133 the day before in practice and without a fair mark, I believe she tightened up. The exciting part for her is that this summer she exceeded her high school season top mark in all 5 competitions she entered. She’s worked hard to fix some technical issues and should be ready to drop huge throws 8 months from now. Don’t be surprised if she breaks her school’s record in her first meet junior year. 💪

🫡 Throw Town Ramona #2 Trip 🐄 🌪️ 🌽

👸 Lillian Freaking Lawrenson! 👸

Our second trip to TTR to compete was a success! First and foremost, Lily broke the 💯 foot barrier for the first time, going 100’10” on Saturday, followed by 103’+, 108’+ and 111’7” Sunday. Her secret: “I just threw it harder I guess.” LOL. 🤷🏼‍♂️ Pretty cool to see the kid that didn’t want to throw get excited about this sport. She’s still just working 3/4 of the full throw right now, so after Junior Olympics she’ll be gearing up for full throws for her first year in HS.

Thaddeus improved his age group facility record by almost 5’, hitting 80’10” on Saturday. He’s looking good for someone that can count his track meet experience on one hand, but this trip was at least 10’ short of what we believed he’d throw.

Brooke and Carly battled it out with another top thrower in the country for their age group. While no PRs were to be had, we keep working these technical tweaks that we believe will lead to monster throws. When the mind and body get on the same page, they’re going to jump ahead nicely. They finished with throws over the two days of 124’7”/121’4” and 122’3”/121’7”.

In attendance and throwing right along side both the boys and girls, were multiple Olympians just under two weeks away from competing in Paris. Such a cool experience!

USATF Region 12 Junior Olympic Championship

Celebrating 248 years of treason in south Texas! 🇺🇸 🦅 🎇 🥏

FATClub goes 4 for 4! 💥

The kids created a rememberable 4th (and 5th) for us, so much so we never thought of BBQ or swimming pools. Ok, that’s a lie, it was 105° and all we could think of was a swimming pool! 🥵

Lily was up first on Thursday and got us off to a great start. She was a little under her best last meet but showed she belonged with a great series of throws in Seguin. Her best went 99’6” and she secured 4th place. She was prepared to go triple digits, but 3’6” of improvement is going to have to suffice.

Thaddeus had to deal with typical USATFing by being ready to throw at 11 and then trying to stay cool until he finally saw action at 1:30. His first throw was an easy effort and he held first for 4 or 5 rounds with it. Another competitor passed him by 17” and although he later improved on his opening mark, it wasn’t enough to regain the lead. His final place of 2nd was only made bitter by the much further throw he had in the second round that he looked at long enough to lose balance and foul. All in all it was a great experience for him since he has very few meets under his belt and clearly looked to be struggling from the heat. I anticipate he’ll be ready to throw those 90-95s from practice at the JOs!

Carly and Brooke both secured their spots by finishing 3rd and 5th respectively. But it was a pair of PR throws from the Pirate that gave us the biggest reason to cheer. Crandall Carly came off her best series ever last meet (and a new PR), with two more PR worthy throws today. He furthest put her in the 130’+ Club- reaching 130’8”. While I knew she was capable of that at any of her meets this last HS season, it’s reassuring to see it on paper. Big things are yet to come as we dial in some of these technical changes. Brooke showed some determination by securing the 8th place in qualifying and significant improvement in finals to get that last moving on place. High hopes for her to put it together in a few weeks.

USATF Texas Southwestern Association JO Championships
Springtown TX
6/13 & 6/14

Over the last two days we learned a lot about summer Field & Track in Texas: it’s incredibly hot, and a 10 am start time on the schedule can certainly turn into a 4 pm start time in real life.

But on to the good news- everyone has a 🎟️ punched for the next round of qualifying for the Junior Olympics. We will be back in action July 4/5 in Seguin. Despite the delayed starts, the hours of laying in the scarce shade/ steadily holding an umbrella overhead, or the pit stops at Taco Bell and McDonalds where we hid in the corner and enjoyed the break from the 104° real feel temperature, everyone has something to smile about.

Thaddeus was the top finisher with his 1st place performance and PR effort of 86’11” in the discus. He was 19’+ beyond second place and every one of his efforts would have won him the competition by at least 11’. Not bad for his first official meet against kids his own age.

Crandall Carly had herself a day in the discus by having her best series of throws ever. She went beyond her old PR three times, with the furthest going 126’4”, good enough for 5th out of 25 competitors. Thats over a 5’ PR! She’s back from a long break in throwing and focused on making significant technical improvements. We’ve been drilling hard and conditioning harder.

Lillian put forth a strong effort by taking 4th out of 15 in the discus with her 84’3” toss. While way under her best, she’s been working on bigger parts of the throw, and for only having a handful of practices since the middle school season ended, she’s looking great.

Brooklyn is also fresh off a decent break and has been gearing up for XC season with lots of miles. She’s very much aware of where her technique needs to improve on but old habits it’s got the best of her. After messing up her first two throws, she needed a “wheel turn” to get into finals. From there she had an ok 121’2” throw that left a lot to be desired in terms of form, but she did what was necessary to move on.

A one time schedule change for tomorrow, 6/12. We will have practice starting at 6 pm instead of our usual 6:30 pm start time. There will be no practice Thursday, 6/13, due to the JO qualifying meet.

⛈️ Indoor practice tonight @ 6:30. Shot put. ⛈️

Summer Schedule

Starting Monday, June 10, we will begin Monday-Thursday practices at FHS. The new start time is 6:30 pm. Mon/Weds will be discus, Tues/Thurs shot put.

Practice tomorrow, 6/4, will be indoors or behind the FHS visitor bleachers at 6pm. Bring tennis and throwing shoes.

We will not have practice today 5/28 or Thursday 5/30.

First summer practice, tomorrow 5/14, meet behind the visitor bleachers at 6pm. Throwing shoes and tennis shoes.

Updated Performance List 🥏⚫️ 🥇🥈🥉

With the end of the school season official here for everyone, I’ve updated the current club marks. I will count any summer competitions for the current year. We should be adding some big throws to this list!

Again, I only record on these lists those that I believe I have had a major influence in their training when the marks were made. Over the years a few other kids have popped in for a couple of practices, but received a majority of their coaching elsewhere. Some kids get the bulk of their coaching from me in the summer time only, so marks outside of this timeframe are omitted on purpose. One athlete from last summer doesn’t appear on the list because I never got a record of those summer performances.

I have only had the pleasure of coaching a few boy athletes at the MS level, but not in HS. Their marks are in the comment section since I was not able to add a fifth picture, weird I know.

🚨🚨🚨 Summer Field & Track Info 🚨🚨🚨

🚨🚨 🥏 USATF Junior Olympics ⚫️🚨🚨

I feel that I’m pretty late in sharing these details, and I sincerely apologize for that, but we realized we had our own personal conflicts that needed to be sorted out before I could say for sure that we were doing the Junior Olympics this summer, even though we’ve been talking about it since last year. Well the answer is YES and if you’d like to do the same here is some important information:

* Register your athlete with USATF (you can later connect their profile to athletic(.)net). It’s $30 to register and you’ll need to verify their age via birth certificate or passport.

* Athletes compete in two year age groups, ie 11/12, 13/14, 15/16, and 17/18. This is a great way to compete against kids of similar experience levels.

* Most Saturday meets throughout the state are for practice/preparation only. We will not be attending these meets. I can provide meet information for anyone looking for a competition. It will typically cost $10 to compete.

* The first meet required to attend to qualify for JOs will be in Springtown, June 13-15. Most kids will compete just one of those days. You will sign up through athletic(.)net. This is also the first week we were scheduled to do 4 day/week practices, so lots of practicing will need to be done on an individual basis as we will stick to Tues/Thurs practices leading up to that week.

*The next required meet will be July 4-6 in Seguin. Clearer information for that meet is available, but still subject to change for a few more weeks. The top 5 athletes for each age in each event will move on to JOs.

* JOs are in College Station July 23-28, and your athlete will most likely only compete one day.

* For anyone who cannot make these meets, does not qualify, or just wants to gauge their progress over the summer, we will most likely have a free, unofficial shot put/discus meet just before the next school year begins, as we have the past three years.

* We are committed, weather permitting, to traveling to Ramona OK June 1-2 and July 13-14 to throw. Unless you are doing more than a stand throw, I don’t recommend going.

If you have any question/comments/concerns please ask in the comment section so others can see as well.

2024 5A State Meet

Super bummed to have the season come to an end, but thrilled to have it wrap up at the state meet. Brooke struggled with experience issues (wet conditions, imposter syndrome, having me out of conversation range) but had an ok throw of 119’7” for 8th place. She fell right in line behind 5 seniors and 2 juniors.

Throwing in her competition were three of the top 7 girls in the nation. We are pleased to gain experience and look forward to moving up to 6A next year.

One fun little experience was seeing the great Valerie Allman take practice throws with her coach.

Check out Forney High’s podcast featuring Brooklyn and pole vaulter Layla. Congrats on making it to state! Last meet, best meet ladies!!!

🫶PRACTICE 🫶PRACTICE 🫶PRACTICE 🫶

I wanted to give everyone a heads up about upcoming practices. I will resume club practices on May 14th, and stay on a Tuesday/Thursday schedule for the remainder of the month and the first week of June. Practices will be from 6-730ish pm at Forney High.

Starting the week of June 9th, I will be holding practices Monday-Thursday from 6:30-8ish pm until the end of summer. I will share our plan for summer meets/Junior Olympics next week as we look to iron out a few more details. I will certainly consider doing our own inner club meet at the end of the summer for anyone interested as we have previous years.

If you have days that you know you will never be able to attend, let me know and I will try to work around it so your athlete isn’t always missing the same event (if they are wanting to practice both shot and disc).

Throw Town Ramona Meet

🚨 PR & Age Group Record 🚨

Brooke, Lily, and Thaddeus traveled to Ramona, Oklahoma today for a tune up meet for Brooke. With less than a week from the Texas state meet, we wanted Brooke to see competitive action. Brooke increased her PR by 4’ to 139’1”.

Lily tossed the discus 89’5” from a 3/4 throw effort. She’s really looking to be ready for full throws next season.

Thaddeus was a bit off what he can throw at 76’, but considering it was his first ever meet and he hasn’t hardly practiced in a month, it’s a start. He did, however, break the boys 11-12 age group facility record by 8’.

We will try to go to Ramona (Tulsa area) multiple times this summer. If you would like more information, let me know.

5A Region 2 Meet

🥳 We’ve got our first club state qualifier! 🥳

Brooklyn opened with a 130’1” effort that led the competition right up to the second to last throw. Regardless, she claimed an automatic spot to this years state meet. Pretty cool considering only 9 athletes from across the whole state get that privilege.

Battling right next to her was our very own Crandall Carly who, after fouling twice, stepped up huge to get the last spot in finals. From there, Carly significantly improved, passing a couple of girls in the process. Her final distance of 118’ was a solid mark for her this year. Carly was also one of only four competitors to qualify for Region in both discus and shot put. She also made the finals in shot put. That is one heck of an accomplishment that deserves recognition!

These girls hold themselves to a high standard and anything short of being at the top usually disappoints them, but they have two more years to really leave their mark in the area for throws. I cannot wait to see what their hard work does for them. 💪 🥏 ⚫️ 🫣 😎

Brooklyn had the opportunity to witness Mykolas Alekna break the 38 year old men’s discus world record today at Throw Town Ramona. Such an incredible feat, but insane considering he is only 21 yrs old! Alekna’s dad has the third longest throw all time in the world as well.

Brooklyn was also incredibly fortunate to get a picture with world record holder in the men’s shot put, Ryan Crouser. Ryan is such an accomplished thrower and incredibly humble guy. Watching him be a fan today and coach to the second place thrower was a treat that could only be second to a live world record breaking performance.

Let’s not forget we also chatted up American record holder in the women’s javelin Kara Winger and also witnessed a 260’ hammer throw. I believe 12 different countries were represented today with multiple Olympians (including Olympic medalists) setting national records for their respective countries.

There is no way a day like this will ever be forgotten by either one of us.

Middle School Metro Meet of Champions

Lily and Jaxon finished up their middle school throwing experience today in Waxahachie. It’s been fun watching these two, among the many others that attend our practices, grow this year as throwers.

Jaxon had a PR throw in 7th grade of 89’7”, and this year he extended his best out to 112’. Today he slung the discus 106’2” for 7th place. Almost all the competitors today were doing full throws, whereas Jaxon did a stand. While it might feel frustrating during the meet, I firmly believe Jaxon will use this base to be a stronger thrower next year as I hope to see him doing full throws in HS.

Lily improved upon a 7th grade PR of 59’8” to 96’ this year. Tonight was her only meet where she did not take 1st, but had a great toss of 90’3” for 2nd. She also stuck with stand throws in meets this year, although spending a significant amount of time on wheels and souths/three quarter throws. I am confident she will be ready to throw full throws next season. Lily also competed in shot put tonight, going 30’9.5” for 9th.

District 13/14 Area Meet

🎟️ x3 💪 🥏 ⚫️

I unofficially declare today be made Crandall Carly day!

With the top discus mark of the day at 118’ and the second furthest shot put distance of 36’, Carly moves on in both her events to the Region Meet. Great job Pirate!

Moving right along with her is Brooklyn who secured the second place finish in discus with her 117’7”. Good job Jackrabbit!

Highschool District Meet 2.0

Carly did what needed to be done today in Varsity Girls Shot Put by finishing top 4 with her bronze medal finish. She threw 35’7”. I’m especially proud of her for taking advantage of finals to pass another girl and get that hardware.

Highschool District Meet

✌️ PRs 🥏 💪 👏

Carly and Brooklyn were full throttle this am going up against a number of tough competitors. The winds were strong right to left across the sector, complete opposite of our practice last night at the same ring. We also dropped about 20° from yesterdays high. Both girls hit PRs in their impressive series and advance to the Area meet. It took 120’ to be a top four finisher and move on, whereas 120’ will win most meets at this level. All of Brooklyn’s throws would’ve won the meet, and her furthest distance sailed 13’ further than 2nd place today. She was determined to be back to back District Champion. Mission accomplished, well done.

Carly threw 121’ and sits 3rd all time at Crandall. She’s 10’ from the all time mark.

Brooklyn threw 135’2” and sits 2nd all time at Forney. She’s 13’ from the all time mark.

These 10th graders are going to be high on the national leaderboard list their senior years!

Why is it always the coach’s kid? I miss my shaggers… you are missed. 😔

Middle School District Meets

🚨🚨🚨PR ALERT/SCHOOL RECORD🚨🚨🚨

Well, Charles Dickens said it best, “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”

My heart breaks for some of our kids tonight as their Middle School Field & Track seasons come to an end. All of the kids worked very hard and showed great dedication to their development these last couple of months, some even going back to last summer. I am impressed at the commitment they’ve shown and willingness to receive tough coaching. Your futures are bright and I hope to have a front row seat all through high school.

What particularly stings is how close some were to moving on to the Zone/ Meet of Champions Meet. Each kid has proven their abilities to get marks that would’ve been high enough to advance, but unfortunately it just didn’t happen. I’ve also seen a number of throws go beyond anything these kids were credited with throwing this year, and I wish they could’ve had that big number next to their name.

On a very positive note, Lillian hit a 3’ PR in the discus to extend her school leading mark out to 96’. I have enjoyed watching her turn into a thrower. Just last year she looked me in the eyes and said “I am not doing this in high school!” I think she has changed her mind.

Jesuit-Sheaner Relays

The Sophomore duo delivered their second best throws of the year.

In a mixed 5a/6a division that showcased the #1, #2 and #4 furthest girl discus throwers in the country, Brooke and Carly battled with the best and delivered notable efforts.

Brooklyn finished 7th with a throw of 124’9” and Carly was 12th with her 118’7” toss. At least half of the competitors today were Seniors. We’ve got two more years ladies.

In shot put Carly went 36’8.75”. While not the 39’ we saw in warm ups, I’ve seen too many big throws to not think one is on the horizon for her.

24 hrs after a great meet, forget it, move on. 24 hrs after a bad meet, forget it, move on. Don’t let comparison be the thief of your joy. Your journey is different than someone else’s. Success comes at different times. Failure comes at different times. You never lose until you stop trying.

Ennis MS Meet

🥏🥇School Record Performance 🥇🥏

🚨🚨🚨3.5 PRs!🚨🚨🚨

These kids are finding their stride and primed to finish the season strong.

Lily launched the discus 93’ to take the all time top girl mark at Warren MS and first place at the meet. She also secured second place in the shot put with 30’8.5”.

Macy threw a PR bomb in the shot, finding a way to go almost 4’6” further than last week. Her 28’5” mark put her at fifth overall. She also gets the 0.5 PR credit with her discus effort. Somehow after walking further out from a 65’ throw when measuring her best of the night, she got credited with a 61’3” throw. Everyone watching knows it broke 70’ with ease. You’ll get it on paper next week Macy- the ability is certainly there.

Jaxon was finally able to throw disc in a meet this season, and he made it count. Last year he finished at 89’7”, and tonight he recorded a 112’2” mark. He eked out a few more inches to PR in the shot put, securing fourth with his 35’11.5”. That 38’ warm up is going to happen this season!

UNT Bill Schmidt Classic

🚨🚨🚨🥏HUGE PR ALERT🥏🚨🚨🚨

2️⃣nd All Time FHS Girl’s Discus (edit: we found evidence of a throw still 2’ further, so she remains third all time for now).

At yet another weather delayed Field & Track meet, Brooklyn got good enough conditions to showcase her discus abilities. After two canceled meets and a meet she couldn’t forget about soon enough, Brooklyn came out with 3 PR throws out of the total 5 rounds of throwing (6th round canceled due to visibiltiy). Her best effort sailed 130’10.5”!!! That is nearly a 10’ improvement from her opening PR at her first meet this season. While it was not unexpected due to her practices, I know it felt great to have it on paper finally. We both know there’s plenty of room for technical improvements this year, so after 24 hrs of feeling good about it, we’ll be back on the grind looking for more!