Richard Gwin/Journal-World PhotoFormer Kansas University standout Scott Russell had one final opportunity for a Kansas Relays javelin record Friday evening, and everyone outside of Memorial Stadium knew it.
Even before Russell released his final heave, the hometown favorite had the crowd’s support.
The 6-foot-9, 270-pound Canadian-born standout, sporting stylish knee-high socks, raised his fist to get the crowd clapping. A bellow followed during what looked to be Russell’s best throw of the day, but so too did a red flag signaling that he had scratched.
“It was close,” Russell said, looking over at KU throwing coach Doug Reynolds for an answer to what went wrong.
Despite the infraction, which was Russell’s fourth of the event, the former Jayhawk easily won the competition with a toss of 242 feet, 8 inches on his first attempt.
Scott McClurg/Journal-World Photo“It was just my first meet, so there’s going to be a few inconsistencies,” said Russell, who graduated from KU two years ago but still trains in Lawrence, and works part time at TherapyWorks Sports Acceleration.
Russell, who claimed his third javelin title at the Relays, actually was pretty far off the 251-foot mark he set last season, which was four inches off Ed Kaminski’s Relay’s record.
Still, Reynolds said Russell’s form Friday was much better than in previous practices.
“I’m very pleased with where Scott is right now. I wasn’t very pleased coming into today with where he was at,” Reynolds said.
“I think he just needed a little competition to get his juices flowing, and remember why he’s training and what he’s doing this for.”
Also, a brutal breeze prevented the entire field from flourishing.
“The cross wind is just very difficult to throw in. It just really pitches the javelin,” said Russell, who defeated second-place finisher John Hetzendorf by almost 25 feet.
“Ideally you’d want a wind coming at your back so it pushes the javelin to its peak.”
But considering Russell’s goal of a spot on this summer’s Canadian Olympic team, the less-than-ideal conditions were just another element to deal with in the training process.
Russell said he definitely will have to improve in order to meet the strict Canadian requirements.
The last two years, Russell, the 2002 NCAA outdoor javelin champ, easily exceeded the world’s provisional marks, but was not granted a spot on the Canadian national teams because he hadn’t qualified to their A-level standard.
“The committee wants to see consistency and performance throughout many competitions, to show that you are at the level of the world’s elite,” Russell said.
“It’s a little bit difficult this year, but I definitely have a few ‘A’ throws in me. I’m completely missing it, but still throwing my average from last year.”
That fact was not overlooked by Russell’s friend Hetzendorf.
“Seeing Scott throw over the last couple of years I’m sure he’ll be ready when the time comes,” said the current WSU throwing coach. “The Olympics are a far way off, he has plenty of time to get ready. I think he has a good shot.”
Especially considering that even on a sub-par day and windy conditions, Russell stepped up on his final shot.
“It was pretty close, a lot of the things that we’ve been working on happened on that throw,” Russell said. “But I just brought a little too much speed on the runway.”
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Relays off and running