Kenney looks forward to next season

If there’s a single moment Ashley Kenney would choose to relive from her sophomore track and field season at Washington State University, she’d choose just a few seconds in Eugene, Ore.

The former state Class 2A discus champion from West Valley was at the University of Oregon for the Pac-10 Championships and, while she’d had a solid season, the big number that had burst forth at this meet the year before had eluded her all season.

Kenney threw the discus 161 feet, 8 inches as a freshman to place sixth – a Beamonesque 9-foot improvement over her previous personal best mark. That she could not break 160 feet as a sophomore ate at her.

And then she did.

“It was a really good throw – well over 160,” she said. “I knew it was a good throw as soon as it left my hand. But I fouled at the back of the ring and they didn’t even measure it. There are no do-overs in life, but if I could have any moment back, it would be that one.”

Expectations have a way of muting accomplishments and altering perceptions.

Before the Summer Olympic Games in Mexico City in 1968, the long jump had seen incremental gains. Since 1901 the world record had been broken 13 times by an average of 2½ inches each time.

And then Bob Beamon set the event on its ear. The American, described by one journalist as “the man who saw lightning,” made what author Dick Schaap called “The Perfect Jump.” Beamon landed beyond the area covered by electronic measurements and when the tape was laid out, he had shattered the record by flying 29 feet, 2½ inches, an improvement of 21¾ inches.

It took 23 years, but Mike Powell finally broke Beamon’s world record n 1991. Kenney plans to beat her own personal best on a much faster timetable. Beamon himself never reached 27 feet during the rest of his career.

Since that day, the term “Beamonesque” has been used to describe superlative efforts like Kenney’s freshman throw.

“I’m going to be throwing consistently in the 160-foot range and I plan to be throwing 170 before I’m through,” she said. “That’s the plan.

“I feel like I have high expectations for myself. I know I practice every day knowing that I can throw farther and knowing what I do can help myself. A lot of times I put pressure on myself because I can throw farther. I still do have two more years that will be better. And this year definitely helps.”

If anyone had told Kenney she’d have twice qualified for the NCAA West Regional Track and Field Championships and been the Cougars leader in the discus for each of her first two seasons in Pullman, she’d have been giddy with delight.

“Last year we’d been working on my form all season long and it all just came together at the Pac-10 Championships,” Kenney said. “This year I’ve been much more consistently throwing in the mid- to high-150s. I just didn’t have that one big throw.”

Kenney threw 157-6 at Eugene last month, placing fifth – an improvement of one place over her freshman performance. At the NCAA West Regional in Austin, Texas, she threw 156-9 to place 21st.

Her season best throw was 159-8 – just four inches shy of that elusive 160-mark.

That freshman throw of 161-8 stands out in a great many ways. For Kenney, it was a 9-foot improvement over her previous personal best. The year before she’d broken the state Class 2A record in winning her state title for the Eagles with a throw of 146-11 and had thrown a personal best 152-0. Further, the throw ranks No. 9 on the all-time list of WSU women’s track bests.

A state-of-the-art weight room at WSU, the direction of strength coaches and improved technique all have paid big dividends for Kenney, giving her good reason to aim high, and far, for her future.

“Definitely – I’ve learned a lot of new techniques in the weight room, in my training and with throwing as well,” she said. “When I was in high school I’d lift weights during a class during the day and go out and throw every day.

“In college throwers lift three or four days per week, heavy during the off-season and tapering off once the season starts. I actually spend a lot less time actually throwing, but the time I do spend throwing I’m much more consistently longer and with better technique.”

The hard work pays off.

“You are stronger, so you have the ability to be faster and more explosive,” she explained. “With more strength and speed you can throw farther. I definitely feel that being stronger enables me to be able to have a correct technique, but also the added strength allows me to throw farther.”

Arizona State’s C.J. Navarro won the Pac-10 discus title with a throw of 167-6, meaning Kenney is within striking distance.

For now, Kenney is taking some time away from throwing and the weight room. She watched her sister graduate from West Valley last week and settled into off-campus housing while starting a summer class.

But that number, first 160 feet and then 170, and they call Ashley Kenney’s name. She’ll soon head back to the weight room and a summer of heavy lifting before the fall season begins.

“I needed a break,” she said. “I got to spend some time with my family. I needed that.

“I don’t have any plans to compete over the summer. I just plan to get back in the weight room and make myself as strong as I can be.”