You may have heard that there’s a new event this year for Brentwood Track & Field; a field event that just so happens to be one of the oldest in history: the javelin.
According to Britannica, throwing the javelin as a sport dates as far back as the Greeks. It originally started as a spear-throwing contest, where athletes would throw a spear as far as possible. It eventually became an event in the Olympics in 1908 for men and in 1932 for women. In Missouri high school sports, it was a part of the state track meet from 1921 to 1936, but then was banned in many states, including Missouri, because of safety concerns, i.e., the potential danger of hitting someone with a spear.
After nearly 70 years of the event being banned, in 2015, MSHSAA brought the javelin back to Track & Field in 2015 as an experimental event. Athletes could compete in it and even win a state title, but winning didn’t count as official points for the team. Then in 2017, it became an official MSHSAA Track & Field event.
Brentwood alum Sophia Rivera, after whom Brentwood’s yearly home track meet, the Sophia Rivera Invitational, is named, actually helped get the javelin back to the state meet. Rivera had been competing and excelling in the javelin and shot put with her club track team at the national level. It was club athletes like Rivera, along with high school and club coaches advocating for the javelin’s return, that helped get it back to MSHSAA.
Since the ancient Greek spear throwing the javelin event has been modernized where the athlete first makes a short sprint, stops right before the end line of the runway, and then throws the javelin as far as possible without fully rotating the body. According to Coach Long, compared to a good shot put throw which is around 10 meters, and a good discus throw of around 30 meters, a good javelin throw ranges from 38 to even 50 meters. You can see why the sport can be pretty dangerous on a crowded track.
When Rivera was at Brentwood, for the javelin to be able to take place at a Brentwood meet, space was made on the field by opening up the gate on Moritz and using that as the runway. After Rivera graduated in 2016, she went on to throw javelin and compete in other field events at the University of Wisconsin and then Mizzou. She’s won national championships, set records, and has competed professionally internationally. Rivera even almost competed in the 2024 Olympic Games for her home country of Puerto Rico.
Even though Rivera continued to excel at the javelin after her time at Brentwood, for Brentwood, after she left, the event all but died.
Until now.
This season, Coach Gordon said that he “saw an opportunity to garner more interest for kids since the throwing event had not been around since Sophia Rivera was a state champion in 2016.”
He started asking around and found several students who wanted to give it a try, such as sophomore Jack Magee. This is Magee’s first year on the track team and he will be competing in both the discus and javelin. As to why he chose the javelin? “Because Gordon asked me to,” he said with a laugh. Magee expressed that Gordon has been very helpful in watching and correcting his mistakes, and Gordon sees a lot of promise in Magee. He threw it at St. Dominic for the first time and placed 9th which was impressive for his first time. Other students who are planning to throw are seniors Jack O’Brien and Joshua Jackson, junior Jordan Weir-Cundiff, and freshman, Etta Garnholz
Interested in seeing the return of the javelin at BHS?
Aside from being a fairly dangerous sport, Javelin is also an interesting one. Coach Long, who threw javelin at his high school in Pennsylvania, believes it’s often an interesting event for spectators because “a lot of kids like to see it since they typically don’t.”
Unfortunately (and fortunately) for your safety, you’re going to have a hard time catching it at Brentwood. The athletes who are starting to practice it this season are only allowed to after track and soccer practices have ended so that no one gets hurt. Unfortunately, because of limited space, the javelin won’t be included in the school’s Sophia Rivera Invitational on April 21st.
But there are plenty of other meets where people can see the javelin, like next Thursday’s meet at Clayton, and more meets to come.
