Season Preview: Throws
January 15, 2020 | Track & Field
The 2020 Washington Track & Field season kicks off Saturday in the Dempsey Indoor as the Huskies host the UW Indoor Preview. Washington's group of throwers continues to grow in number and made history in a number of events last season in the first year under assistant coach Andrew Ninow. This season the group has some big shoes to fill but returns All-Americans in Elijah Mason and Jonah Wilson and four more West Prelim qualifiers from a year ago.
Returning 2019 Conference Scorers and NCAA Qualifiers
Men
Zach Annanie, Javelin (37th at NCAA Prelims)
Elijah Mason, Discus (1st at Pac-12s; 7th at NCAA Outdoors)
Jacob Wachtendonk, Javelin (34th at NCAA Prelims)
Jonah Wilson, Shot Put (4th at MPSFs; 5th at Pac-12s; 16th at NCAA Outdoors); Discus (4th at Pac-12s; 20th at NCAA Outdoors)
Women
Ginny Mehl, Discus (7th at Pac-12s; 32nd at NCAA Prelims)
Angel Nkwonta, Shot Put (7th at Pac-12s; 44th at NCAA Prelims)
GH: How much does it help getting that first year checked off and now having the familiarity with the group this time around?
Coach Ninow: It's big. Having all those athletes that know what we're going to do, when it's going to come, knowing our system and how we teach technique and they can help out the younger athletes as well. Now we have a few people that understand well enough and they can disseminate to the freshmen and bring them along a little quicker. So those are the big differences, especially with a big team like we have, having more people that understand the system that can help along the entire team. Efficiency in practice takes a big leap.
GH: Last season saw a lot of first-time Prelim qualifiers and obviously highlighted by First Team All-America honors for Elijah Mason and Denham Patricelli. How do you think last year's success has carried over?
Coach Ninow: Any time you can take two people in Denham and Elijah that have never scored at nationals, and get them to score, that's a success in my book. Elijah winning the Pac-12 was a cherry on top. Then Jonah (Wilson), as a freshman, did not qualify for Regionals in shot or discus, and he made both for Nationals and was the only underclassmen to make Nationals in both events. Onyie (Chibuogwu) was another awesome success. She had some more performance-anxiety issues, so for her to come within a couple feet of her PR at Nationals at the last meet of her career, after she basically fouled out at conference, to go from that lowest of lows to excelling and getting Second Team All-American, it was a great year. Any time you can people to do things for the first time at a high level, it's a success no matter how many points they score. If people are achieving things they haven't done before, then you've had a good year.
GH: With the incoming class it seems like the throws group is the biggest it's been in years.
Coach Ninow: I like the bigger team, it provides opportunity for everyone to have someone to compete with, whether that's in a certain event area or in the weight room or jumping. I think it fosters a lot of good competition and I think it's like having a big fraternity or sorority, you have people who think like you and you feel like you're in this together. I'm enjoying it and as they start to learn the system it makes it easier to corral seventeen people into the same ideas.
GH: Who are some returners that you think could take a step up this season?
Coach Ninow: The first person that comes to mind is Makayla Kelby. She had a pretty good redshirt freshman campaign and I think she's really excited to get into a uniform and do it. Her stuff I think will show a little later in the indoor season. She had a couple setbacks in the fall but we're pushing her pretty hard in training right now to get ready for conference. She understands that. Positionally, technically, she's in a great position, so now we can keep adding on the strength and the technique.
Jonah of course is exciting. We're redshirting him indoors this year but I think he's going to have a fun little indoor campaign. We're going to go to USA's and mix it up with the big boys and test his mettle with them. Elijah is doing well in the weight throw right now and I think that's an event I think he can be really good at with his increase in health and ability to train, that's an event that's improved a lot since this fall. Then Jose Padilla has been healthy and that was the big issue last year, so he's been training really well and if he can continue to stay healthy indoor and outdoor we'll see some great things from him, too.
I think we had eight or nine kids qualify for Regionals last year, and in my estimation almost every one of these kids is a Regional kid. Angel Nkwonta in the shot put had the best training marks of her life this fall, and for her it's the consistency, she's so much more consistent now. You can kind of count on her being at a certain distance in practice and a certain movement, so that's really encouraging for her. Ginny Mehl in the discus and Emmy Engle in the javelin, as good as we are indoors I think we'll be a really strong outdoor team.
In the men's javelin we're looking really deep. As far as the conference level I think we'll be able to replace Denham's points pretty well. Zach Annanie is coming along really well and is showing some really impressive stuff in the fall. Jacob Wachtendonk is looking great and technically he's really come along. They have a great opportunity to challenge that 70-meter mark and be a marquee name in the conference. If you can catch the rhythm and timing like Denham did last year you can find yourself 5-8 meters beyond where you were before. Hopefully one or both of them can do that this year.
GH: What have you seen from the freshman class so far?
Coach Ninow: They're just all good-character, hard-working people. They come early, they ask questions, no one's trying to skip out early, so I think it's a group that just wants to work hard and that's a great foundation for your first recruiting class. Sam Van Peursem he had an unfortunate injury he brought in from high school and he's going to redshirt but he was looking fantastic in the fall, on a good path. Beatrice Asomaning will be an exciting addition on the women's side this indoor season. The weight throw favors stronger and older but she has a lot of natural strength and I think you're going to see a fun progression from her her freshman year. The other freshmen are javelin throwers and we'll see a lot of them outdoors, obviously.
GH: What else are you looking forward to seeing early on in the season?
Coach Ninow: We're just excited to get another group going. Every year is different. I think Denham was a really strong senior presence that led the group really well, so you're waiting to see who will fill that shoe as well. As that indoor season progress it will be fun to see who takes on that leadership position.
Returning 2019 Conference Scorers and NCAA Qualifiers
Men
Zach Annanie, Javelin (37th at NCAA Prelims)
Elijah Mason, Discus (1st at Pac-12s; 7th at NCAA Outdoors)
Jacob Wachtendonk, Javelin (34th at NCAA Prelims)
Jonah Wilson, Shot Put (4th at MPSFs; 5th at Pac-12s; 16th at NCAA Outdoors); Discus (4th at Pac-12s; 20th at NCAA Outdoors)
Women
Ginny Mehl, Discus (7th at Pac-12s; 32nd at NCAA Prelims)
Angel Nkwonta, Shot Put (7th at Pac-12s; 44th at NCAA Prelims)
GH: How much does it help getting that first year checked off and now having the familiarity with the group this time around?
Coach Ninow: It's big. Having all those athletes that know what we're going to do, when it's going to come, knowing our system and how we teach technique and they can help out the younger athletes as well. Now we have a few people that understand well enough and they can disseminate to the freshmen and bring them along a little quicker. So those are the big differences, especially with a big team like we have, having more people that understand the system that can help along the entire team. Efficiency in practice takes a big leap.
GH: Last season saw a lot of first-time Prelim qualifiers and obviously highlighted by First Team All-America honors for Elijah Mason and Denham Patricelli. How do you think last year's success has carried over?
Coach Ninow: Any time you can take two people in Denham and Elijah that have never scored at nationals, and get them to score, that's a success in my book. Elijah winning the Pac-12 was a cherry on top. Then Jonah (Wilson), as a freshman, did not qualify for Regionals in shot or discus, and he made both for Nationals and was the only underclassmen to make Nationals in both events. Onyie (Chibuogwu) was another awesome success. She had some more performance-anxiety issues, so for her to come within a couple feet of her PR at Nationals at the last meet of her career, after she basically fouled out at conference, to go from that lowest of lows to excelling and getting Second Team All-American, it was a great year. Any time you can people to do things for the first time at a high level, it's a success no matter how many points they score. If people are achieving things they haven't done before, then you've had a good year.
GH: With the incoming class it seems like the throws group is the biggest it's been in years.
Coach Ninow: I like the bigger team, it provides opportunity for everyone to have someone to compete with, whether that's in a certain event area or in the weight room or jumping. I think it fosters a lot of good competition and I think it's like having a big fraternity or sorority, you have people who think like you and you feel like you're in this together. I'm enjoying it and as they start to learn the system it makes it easier to corral seventeen people into the same ideas.
GH: Who are some returners that you think could take a step up this season?
Coach Ninow: The first person that comes to mind is Makayla Kelby. She had a pretty good redshirt freshman campaign and I think she's really excited to get into a uniform and do it. Her stuff I think will show a little later in the indoor season. She had a couple setbacks in the fall but we're pushing her pretty hard in training right now to get ready for conference. She understands that. Positionally, technically, she's in a great position, so now we can keep adding on the strength and the technique.
Jonah of course is exciting. We're redshirting him indoors this year but I think he's going to have a fun little indoor campaign. We're going to go to USA's and mix it up with the big boys and test his mettle with them. Elijah is doing well in the weight throw right now and I think that's an event I think he can be really good at with his increase in health and ability to train, that's an event that's improved a lot since this fall. Then Jose Padilla has been healthy and that was the big issue last year, so he's been training really well and if he can continue to stay healthy indoor and outdoor we'll see some great things from him, too.
I think we had eight or nine kids qualify for Regionals last year, and in my estimation almost every one of these kids is a Regional kid. Angel Nkwonta in the shot put had the best training marks of her life this fall, and for her it's the consistency, she's so much more consistent now. You can kind of count on her being at a certain distance in practice and a certain movement, so that's really encouraging for her. Ginny Mehl in the discus and Emmy Engle in the javelin, as good as we are indoors I think we'll be a really strong outdoor team.
In the men's javelin we're looking really deep. As far as the conference level I think we'll be able to replace Denham's points pretty well. Zach Annanie is coming along really well and is showing some really impressive stuff in the fall. Jacob Wachtendonk is looking great and technically he's really come along. They have a great opportunity to challenge that 70-meter mark and be a marquee name in the conference. If you can catch the rhythm and timing like Denham did last year you can find yourself 5-8 meters beyond where you were before. Hopefully one or both of them can do that this year.
GH: What have you seen from the freshman class so far?
Coach Ninow: They're just all good-character, hard-working people. They come early, they ask questions, no one's trying to skip out early, so I think it's a group that just wants to work hard and that's a great foundation for your first recruiting class. Sam Van Peursem he had an unfortunate injury he brought in from high school and he's going to redshirt but he was looking fantastic in the fall, on a good path. Beatrice Asomaning will be an exciting addition on the women's side this indoor season. The weight throw favors stronger and older but she has a lot of natural strength and I think you're going to see a fun progression from her her freshman year. The other freshmen are javelin throwers and we'll see a lot of them outdoors, obviously.
GH: What else are you looking forward to seeing early on in the season?
Coach Ninow: We're just excited to get another group going. Every year is different. I think Denham was a really strong senior presence that led the group really well, so you're waiting to see who will fill that shoe as well. As that indoor season progress it will be fun to see who takes on that leadership position.
Players Mentioned
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