AFTER MANY YEARS coaching the javelin, Missouri’s Brett Halter has come to rely on an interesting analogy to help his throwers understand how to approach big competitions. “Just like in bull riding,” he explained, “the last thing you want to do in the javelin is to end up in the wrong position with a lot of juice behind it. You can’t force the javelin out there. You don’t will it out there. You have to relax and let the energy of the moment, the energy of the environment carry through to the jav. Otherwise, just like a bull rider, you will get destroyed.”
That was the advice he gave to Callan Saldutto, a Missouri senior who came into Wednesday’s comp — his first NCAA — not having produced a PR in 2 years.
“Just relax,” Halter advised Saldutto before his first attempt. “Don’t yank it.”
The 23-year-old Canadian did his best to listen, and the result was a 253-2 (76.88) opener, the best throw of his life by 3m. It was a big moment for the kid, and according to Halter, may have altered the course of the entire competition.
“Everyone expects a couple of guys in the first flight to go 74.50 (244-5) or 75.00,” he said. “But when someone gets close to 77 (252-7), it puts a lot of pressure on the field early. It makes guys start to try, and trying too hard is death in the javelin.”
This didn’t seem to be a problem as flight 2 began and Miami’s Devoux Deysel flew one out to 268-2 (81.75). Deysel, who finished 3rd a year ago, may not have noticed Saldutto’s toss as he was busy trying to loosen up the groin muscle he’d pulled at Regionals which required “many hours” of rehab and limited him to a single throwing session over the last two weeks.
““It wasn’t really what I wanted, but I started off pretty good,” said Deysel the South African senior. “I messed it up a little bit in round 3 and hurt my back a little bit, but I’m satisfied. The points weren’t terrible, so I’m happy with it.” Deysel threw his winner off a short approach and said his groin and back troubles shortstopped his ambition to “push 85 [278-10] today.”
Florida’s Leikel Cabrera Gay also seemed impervious to the pressure, even as he aborted his opening attempt after stutter-stepping halfway through his runup. Gay simply took a breath, started over, then launched a PR 257-7 (78.51).
After that, guys started having trouble staying in the saddle, perhaps trying too hard. Several competitors, including Georgia’s Moustafa Alsherif, Nebraska’s Keyshawn Strachan and Arthur Petersen, and Mississippi State’s Remi Rougetet all had the firepower to take a run at Deysel, but could not find their rhythm.
After Saldutto hit that PR in round 1, Halter made him pass his second attempt, explaining that for a shot putter, the kind of adrenaline rush he knew Saldutto was experiencing might actually be helpful, but for a javelin thrower it was best to give him a few minutes to calm down. He probably never did find his chill, and didn’t get anywhere near his opener the rest of the comp, but that throw held up for 3rd place — not bad considering he came in rated sixteenth.
Cabrera Gay, meanwhile, had the night of his life, surpassing his old PR three times, including a a best of 259-4 (79.05) in round 3.
MEN’S JAVELIN RESULTS
FINAL (June 11)
1. Devoux Deysel’ (Mia-SA) 268-2 (81.75)
(268-2, f, 253-2, 256-2, f, 249-7) (81.75, f, 77.17, 78.08, f, 76.09);
2. **Leikel Cabrera Gay’ (Fl-Cub) 259-4 (79.05) PR
(257-7, 247-9, 259-4, 253-11, 239-4, 258-10) (78.51, 75.52, 79.05, 77.39, 72.94, 78.89);
3. Callan Saldutto’ (Mo-Can) 252-3 (76.88) PR
(252-3, p, f, 225-11, f, 225-1) (76.88, p, f, 68.87, f, 68.62);
4. Moustafa Alsherif’ (Ga-Egy) 251-7 (76.69)
(223-5, 251-7, 236-5, f, f, 234-1) (68.10, 76.69, 72.06, f, f, 71.35);
5. *Keyshawn Strachan’ (Nb-Bah) 250-9 (76.44)
(221-0, 246-2, 236-8, f, 235-5, 250-9) (67.37, 75.03, 72.15, f, 71.76, 76.44);
6. *Mike Stein (Ia) 248-7 (75.77)
(248-7, f, 230-11, 237-6, 234-8, f) (75.77, f, 70.38, 72.40, 71.54, f);
7. Arthur Petersen’ (Nb-Den) 247-8 (75.50)
(231-7, 238-7, 247-8, 240-2, 246-7, 243-7) (70.58, 72.73, 75.50, 73.21, 75.16, 74.25);
8. James Kotowski (MaL) 246-8 (75.18)
(233-4, 246-1, 241-3, 235-1, 246-8, 242-6) (71.13, 75.00, 73.53, 71.65, 75.18, 73.92);
9. Colin Winkler (CCt) 245-11 (74.97) PR; 10. Remi Rougetet’ (MsSt-Fra) 240-6 (73.30); 11. **Riley Marx (KsSt) 232-0 (70.71); 12. Liam Miksic (UCI) 230-1 (70.13); 13. Ryan Rieckmann (Cinc) 228-3 (69.59); 14. *Dash Sirmon (Nb) 226-11 (69.17); 15. Trevor Hook (NnAz) 222-7 (67.84); 16. ***Jack Greaves’ (Rice-Aus) 221-1 (67.38); 17. ***Tuomas Narhi’ (MsSt-Fin) 215-11 (65.81); 18. *Gabriel Koletsi’ (Mem-Gre) 215-2 (65.59); 19. Jesse Avina (Az) 214-10 (65.49); 20. ***Preston Kuznof (TCU) 212-0 (64.62); 21. ***Roddy Schenk (Tn) 206-2 (62.84); 22. Steven Coponi (Rut) 206-1 (62.82); 23. **Kevin Burr (Tn) 202-2 (61.62); 24. *Sam Roller (NDSt) 198-9 (60.58).
