RAMONA, OKLAHOMA, April 10, 11–13 — Valarie Allman and Jayden Ulrich were far from alone in their record attacks on the blustery plains of the Sooner State. Heavy hitter men came to Throw Town Ramona also. Aussie Matt Denny arrived determined to grab a World Record. Cal’s Mykolas Alekna showed up to defend his. Their results were jaw-dropping.
Alekna had pulled off an historic performance last year at Throw Town when his 243-11 (74.35) toss relieved Jürgen Schult of the World Record he’d set competing for East Germany in 1986.
But that effort had come at some cost, according to Alekna’s throws coach at Cal, Mo Saatara. “It took two weeks to get back to normal after he broke the record last year,” he recalled. “People don’t realize how much energy it takes to throw the disc that far.”
With the college season just getting started and the World Championships not taking place until September, Mykolas and Mo were thinking it might be best to skip the World Throws Invitational this year to keep a maximum amount of gas in the tank for the long road ahead.
But when Mykolas started throwing extremely well in practice — 70 meters on average days, 68 meters on “bad days” — they changed their minds.
They decided to come back for more of what Allman the day before the men’s comp had light-heartedly appraised as “the Kool-Aid” that is Ramona.
The prospect of Alekna losing his record to Denny might also have factored into the Cal contingent’s decision. Denny, the 28-year-old Paris Olympics bronze medalist, has been on a mission this year to establish himself as the best of the best. And according to his coach, Dale Stevenson, he’s ready to do it.
“Previously,” Stevenson explained, “Matt was coming from a place of hope and desire. Now, after taking a medal in Paris, he knows on any given day he can beat anyone.”
One way to prove that, according to Stevenson, was to skip the Australian Championships — held the same weekend as the World Invitational — and come to Ramona to “throw against the best guys in the best conditions.”
Denny and Stevenson arrived two weeks early to work through the jet lag, and at a shakeout comp at Ramona on April 6 threw down the gauntlet with an Australian record 236-5 (72.07).
Next up was an April 10 meeting at Throw Town against most everyone — aside from Alekna — that Denny would face 3 days later at the World Invitational.
Energized perhaps by going against the likes of Sam Mattis and Mika Sosna, each of whom bettered 70 meters for the first time, Denny put together the best discus series in history: 233-0/71.03, 241-0/73.46, 243-7/74.25, 239-3/72.93, 233-5/71.14, 241-4/73.56.
It was a remarkable display of talent and intensity. Afterwards, the always affable Stevenson handed out cans of beer which athletes, coaches and spectators sipped while trying to digest what they’d just witnessed.
Stevenson and Matt Denny must have felt equally optimistic when they arrived at Throw Town Sunday morning and were greeted by an extremely brisk breeze. It was the kind of wind that makes a cow turn to face it in order to avoid being blown over. The kind that might send a stray cat rolling across an open field like an angry tumbleweed. A World Record wind.
Alekna had arrived in town on Saturday night, and Sunday morning found him stretched out on a couch in the clubhouse at Millican Field where competitors hang out between flights.
Mykolas is a bright, shy young man who does not wear his emotions on his face. He’d be a terrible actor, but an outstanding poker player.
At one point, Denny approached, stuck out his hand and asked Alekna if he was ready.
“Yeah,” he shrugged. “I think I am.”
The young man was not kidding. Approximately 90 minutes later he entered the ring on this sunny, breezy day, launched the disc into a 5.1mps gust (wind stats courtesy of biomechanics whiz Kristof Kipp of Marquette University), raised an arm in triumph, then sat back down in the shelter near the cage while retired javelin great Kara Winger announced the measurement.
It was 245-8 (74.89), a new World Record.
Denny had opened at 214-7 (65.41), then responded to Alekna’s bomb with a second-round 232-0 (70.72).
Alekna fouled a wonky-looking attempt in round 3 (one of the competitors said afterwards that if your release isn’t just right in those conditions the wind will “murder” the disc) then dropped one on the right foul line that was measured as exactly 242-9 (74.00) before being ruled out of bounds.
Denny, meanwhile, had begun looking dangerous. He put his third attempt out to 237-0 (72.24) and seemed to have more in the tank.
Mykolas took the hint and responded with a majestic-looking toss that looked to be headed out of the sector before the wind shoved it back in bounds. It knifed into the turf a foot or so inside the line and turned out to be the first 75-meter throw in history, 247-11 (75.56), to be exact.
Were Denny a normal man, he might have packed it in after hearing that measurement, but we’re talking about a guy who has produced PRs in two Olympic and two World Championships finals, so… news flash… he’s not normal.
He proved it by smoking his fifth attempt out to 245-4 (74.78), the farthest throw in history outside of the two Alekna had produced in this comp.
Mykolas, low on juice by this time, fouled his fifth throw and stood back to watch Denny take one more whack at him.
Once again, he came up just short, this time 240-8 (73.36), and so the 22-year-old Lithuanian, after finishing with another foul, held on for the win.
In total, six men (Mykolas, Denny, Sam Mattis, Clemens Prüfer, Lawrence Okoye and Mika Sosna) surpassed 70 meters on the day, with Henrik Jansen, ’22 NCAA titlist Claudio Romero and Steven Richter coming close.
Denny was gracious in spite of his bitter disappointment, a feeling he tried to assuage by convincing Stevenson to let him enter a comp on Monday that Throw Town manager Caleb Seal was holding to make up for an earlier rainout.
Stevenson (and reason) prevailed and instead they flew home to rest and resume training.
“Fifty years from now,” Stevenson mused as the sun set on Sunday, “Matt will be able to sit with his grandkids on his lap and tell them about the time he threw over the old World Record only to get beat by a new World Record. As for me, I feel privileged as a human being to have been here to witness this comp.”
The other athletes, fans, coaches and volunteers also heading for the parking lot likely felt the same.
Kool-Aid, anyone?
RAMONA MEN’S RESULTS
Ramona IX
DT: I–1. Matt Denny (Aus) 243-7 (74.25) NR (2, 2 W) (233-0, 241-0 [4, 4, W], 243-7, 239-3 [x, 7 W], 233-5, 241-4 [x, 5 W]) (71.03, 73.46, 74.25, 72.93, 71.14, 73.56);
2. Sam Mattis (US) 229-11 (70.08) PR (8, x A) (221-1, f, 218-1, f, 217-2, 229-11) (67.39, f, 66.47, f, 66.21, 70.08);
3. Mika Sosna (Ger) 229-10 (70.05) PR (213-9, f, 229-10, f, 215-4, 218-1) (65.17, f, 70.05, f, 65.63, 66.49);
4. Henrik Janssen (Ger) 225-9 (68.82) PR; 5. Clemens Prüfer (Ger) 224-9 (68.51); 6. Marcus Gustaveson (US) 224-4 (68.39); 7. Connor Bell (NZ) 224-4 (68.38) NR; 8. Joe Brown (US) 218-2 (66.50); 9. Alessio Mannucci (Ita) 215-3 (65.60) PR; 10. Lawrence Okoye (GB) 211-7 (64.50).
(best-ever mark-for-place: 3–7)
II–1. Emanuel Sousa (Por) 221-6 (67.51) NR.
III–1. Mauricio Ortega (Col) 218-1 (66.48).
Ramona X
SP: 1. Jordan Geist (Iron) 67-9½ (20.66).
DT: I–1. Mykolas Alekna’ (Lit-Cal) 247-11 (75.56) WR, CR (old WR, CR 245-8/74.89 Alekna in series) (245-8 WR, CR [old WR 243-11/74.35 Alekna ’24; old CR 232-11/71.00 Alekna ’23], f, f, 247-11, f, f) (74.89, f, f, 75.56, f, f);
2. Denny’ 245-4 (74.78) NR (2, 3 W) (214-7, 232-0, 237-0, 235-6, 245-4, 240-8) (65.41, 70.72, 72.24, 71.78, 74.78, 73.36);
3. Mattis 233-10 (71.27) PR (AL) (2, 2 A) (233-10, f, f, f, 212-5, 220-1) (71.27, f, f, f, 64.76, 67.09);
4. Prüfer’ 232-11 (71.01) PR (f, f, 232-11, 220-6, f, 218-5) (f, f, 71.01, 67.21, f, 66.59); 5. Okoye’ 232-2 (70.76) NR; 6. Janssen’ 229-5 (69.94) PR; 7. Claudio Romero’ (Chl) 228-6 (69.65) NR; 8. Fedrick Dacres’ (Jam) 217-7 (66.33).
(best-ever mark-for-place: 1–7)
II–1. Sosna’ 229-8 (70.01); 2. Steven Richter’ (Ger) 228-4 (69.61); 3. Marek Bárta’ (CzR) 219-3 (66.83); 4. Brown 214-7 (65.42); 5. Lolasson Djouhan’ (Fra) 213-4 (65.02); 6. Mannucci’ 212-4 (64.72).
III–1. Ortega’ 226-4 (69.00); 2. Nick Percy’ (GB) 219-11 (67.04).
IV–1. Robbie Otal (US) 224-5 (68.41) PR.
HT: 1. Kostas Záltos’ (Gre) 253-0 (77.12); 2. **Ángelos Mantzouránis (Gre) 250-7 (76.39); 3. Tanner Berg (unat) 249-6 (76.06); 4. Geist 247-1 (75.33) 5. Justin Stafford (TSSBay) 74.54; 6. Tyler Williams (GarS) 244-6 (74.53); 7. *Texas Tanner (AF) 239-10 (73.11); 8. Kade McCall (unat) 238-5 (72.66) PR; 9. Alex Young (adidas) 236-0 (71.95); 10. Johnnie Jackson (unat) 232-5 (70.84); 11. Daniel Haugh (NYAC) 231-6 (70.56).
JT: 1. Curtis Thompson (TS) 268-11 (81.97) (252-0, 268-11, f, 268-3, 264-10, f) (76.80, 81.97, f, 81.76, 80.73, f).
