Women Put Hammer Down In Quest To Learn New Event

The folks at the NCAA, after adding the hammer throw to the docket of women’s track events, were then faced with the issue of determining what would constitute excellence in the discipline.

There wasn’t much, after all, to go on.

So they listed 175 feet as the automatic qualifying for the NCAA meet, with 150 as a provisional qualifier.

As the event’s debut season has progressed, it’s clear that the NCAA underestimated the slope of the women’s learning curve.

“We get a weekly report of those who qualify for the NCAA,” said Debra Lombardi, throws coach at Washington State. “And the women’s hammer list has 60 or 75 that have already qualified provisionally, and 12 women have already qualified automatically.”

It’s not unreasonable to think that, by the May 18 qualifying deadline, the NCAA could be buried in women’s hammer throwers.

Clearly, this ball and chain is not the burden that Janis Joplin sang about in the 1960s.

“They’re talking now that the 4 kilo (8 pounds, 13 ounces) is too light,” said Lombardi, who was something of a pioneer in the event.

While an athlete at WSU, Lombardi competed in the first women’s dual-meet event in 1982, and established an unofficial college record (125-9) that season.

“It’s kind of been a passion for me,” said Lombardi, who works with USA Track and Field on development of the event. “It’s been neat to see it evolve from being just a couple women in the country throwing and kind of being laughed at and snickered at. Now, it’s a Pac-10 (Conference) and NCAA event and it will be in the Olympic Trials this year.”

Because of the difficult nature of the event, in which proper technique and balance must be used to convert centrifugal force into distance, Lombardi spends a great deal of time with her fledgling hammer heavers.

And she now has three athletes - Molly Moore, Kris Christopher and Jeanna Hall - with PRs within 13 inches of one another.

Moore holds the school record with a 144-3 mark.

“It creates a really good competitive environment, because they all want that school record,” Lombardi said.

Moore is a freshman from Montana who spreads her training time among all four throws, while Christopher has improved her best by 25 feet.

Eastern Washington coach Marcia Mecklenburg, meanwhile, has so much depth in the event (seven throwers) that she has to split up the hammer corps and schedule them to practice on alternate days.

“It’s going a lot better than I thought, and they’re improving a lot quicker than I anticipated,” Mecklenburg said. “It’s a really different event and they all seem to like it.”

Maria Manley and Leslee Oliver have the best distances thus far, but Denese Kelly could be developing into the Eagles’ top thrower, Mecklenburg said.

The addition of the hammer - a difficult and potentially dangerous event from which women, historically, needed to be “protected” - represents another stage in the evolution of women’s athletics.

“I see it as a very positive step,” Mecklenburg said.

Southern California’s Leslie Coons hurled the hammer 194-4 last weekend to set an American and NCAA record.

“I don’t think there’s any question that they’re going to break 200 feet this year,” Lombardi said.

Track shorts

Area track athletes will scatter this weekend before reconvening in Cheney for next Friday’s Pelluer Invitational.

Washington State and Idaho will split squads, with some headed for the highly competitive Mt. San Antonio College Relays in California and others competing in the Bob Gibb Invitational at Boise State.

EWU will head to Missoula, meanwhile, for a meet with Montana and Montana State.

From the perspective of performers with local ties, Purdue’s Corissa Yasen, a Coeur d’Alene native, stars on the U.S.-bests list.

Yasen’s 5,727-point effort in the heptathlon is second in the country to Nike’s DeDee Nathan (6.018).

Also, her indoor mark of 6-3-1/4 in the high jump still is ranked fourth.

Matt Davis, the Oregon runner from Mead High, is rated fourth in the 10,000 with a 29:01.00 clocking.

While WSU freshman Ian Waltz has drawn considerable attention for his early success, his classmate, Kevin Moore of Richland, hasn’t been too shabby, either.

Moore notched three PRs in the throws last weekend, including a Pac-10 qualifying 169-5 in the discus.

WSU’s strong class of freshmen appears to be reflective of the conference in general.

In the women’s 100, for instance, Cougars freshman Fran Green has been sensational, with a best of 11.75.

But that is only the fourth quickest in the conference, behind three other freshmen.

In fact, of the top 10 times, seven have been recorded by freshmen.

, DataTimes