Solid D1 throws programs

You may laugh, but Mount St Mary's in Maryland has very solid throws coaches. though they are going to hurt with Jim Stevenson (former Olympian) leaving the program, it sounds like he will still be very involved. Two females (one senior one sophomore) made it to the Finals round of NCAA East regions in the Javelin from the mount this year. Monmouth University also has solid throws.

Not sure where you live or how far you're willing to travel, I would highly suggest Purdue. Yes I will admit, I am alumni of the program but was not specifically a thrower.

Krannert School of Management has respectable business degrees and they have had outstanding throwers for both men and women. I wouldn't worry about the throwing coach leaving, McBride survived a total clearing of assistants when Greene arrived because he is that good at coaching throwers.

They have have a large group of women throwers that are young (mostly sophomores and freshmen throwers right now) and Dani Bunch is still around volunteer coaching while being coached by McBride (she was 10th in the WORLD in the shot put before USAs). Chuk Eneckwechi is a multiple All-American and they had a freshmen woman make NCAAs in the discus.

Definitely willing to answer any questions about Purdue!

Throws mom wrote:

I have seen some pretty lofty scholarship standards at a variety of schools. Leaves me with the impression that they don't want to give scholarship money to throwers and just want walk-ons.

Another thing we are concerned about is being recruited by a coach and then having the coach leave for a different university. This happened to another thrower she knows, last year at the University of Iowa. But that is just how college athletic programs are nowadays.

She is currently working with a very good NAIA throws coach in our area. It will be interesting to see how much she can improve in DT, hammer, and jav with his help.

This is how DI programs are.

Why wouldn't she consider the NAIA throws coach she is currently working with? Or if she doesn't like the school or it doesn't have her prospective major, the coach should be able to direct her to an appropriate program that would be willing to give her a scholarship.

She has considered the NAIA school that her summer coach is at but, unfortunately, it isn't really a match to her academic interests. Her coach is giving her lots of pointers, especially with phone conversations since I know she gets a little nervous and excited when a coach calls her.

As far as the weight of the implements, she does throw with the college weights. We have recently looked at several results from various conference championships to see where her current marks would stand, and there are a handful or so of conferences where she could have picked up a point or two, so she is looking into schools in those conferences.

She is very interested in Purdue. My husband taught there a few years ago and she liked visiting the campus, so we do have a connection to that school.

They only have a finite number of scholarships to disburse so the standards can be high especially for high D-I, but that does always mean they will only go by those standards. I know a 140' discus thrower that got a scholarship, it wasn't huge, at a high D-I when their standard was 155'. It depends on the number of events they are willing to compete in and how close they are to the standard in each event.

I saw you mentioned checking out point scorers in the conference meets but I would also look at the the team's roster and compare their throwers to your daughter's marks.

Finally, fill out as many recruiting questionaires as you can. You never know which places (and coaches) she will like and which she won't. Email the coaches, explain this is the first time she's had a coach, mention her summer improvements, and where you will be throwing in the fall. Also, take some video of her throws this summer.

Look at schools in the Horizon, OVC and GLVC.

What is her shot mark? How tall is she? Does she play other sports or just throw? All of these things are taken into consideration. Kids who are multi sport with lower marks (and frame to grow) tend to get money over kids who just throw but are slightly better.

She used to throw shot and as a freshman threw over 36', but she started to develop bad tendinitis when she threw shot. After multiple trips to ortho doc and a cortisone injection, the doc couldn't find anything wrong but advised her not to throw shot anymore since that is what makes the tendinitis flare up. She has had no issues throwing discus, jav, or hammer.

She is not tall, 5'6". She used to play premier level soccer and club basketball through freshman year, but basketball coaches demanded year round practice and games to continue to play HS ball. They were not considerate of track practices and meets, so she now just plays intramural basketball and flag football.

She used to do multi events when she was 6th and 7th grade. Ran a 13.4 100 meter, high jumped 4'10', but her 800 stunk. Always had a very quick first step in basketball and has always been strong. Was a left wing on her soccer team. Lots of fast twitch.

She has been lifting weights for several years now. She squats 225 now but will work to improve that.

I think you will have a hard time getting much of any financial interest at the DI level for a thrower that isn't All-State level, and tendonitis is another thing that diminishes her value in college.

I'd suggest she look at DII and NAIA programs, they are more likely to just see talent, rather than look to "specialize" their teams, which is the trend at the DI level because of the few scholarship.

NAIA may be the best bet, because they can stack academic and athletic money to put forth a good financial package.

Based on OP's first post, I didn't think they were looking for money for their daughter. OP, is that the case or are you looking for scholarship?

If so, I would caution that Purdue will be hard to get athletic money at since they have so many solid throwers right now and the big ten is extremely competitive in the throws. But they are always open to hard working walk-ons, especially smart ones that show promise. I was a walk on myself and can say I was treated the same as everyone else and by jr/sr I was traveling to all the meets and went on the week long spring break trips.

People love to talk how cr@p Purdue's program is but things are really turning around with Greene at the helm and the throwers have always been a strong spot on the team.

Not necessarily looking for scholarship money - we realize she's likely going to get more in merit scholarship than athletic. Ivy League seems very interested in her, and I know they only give need based aid, but we aren't exactly rolling in money so we may qualify for a reasonable amount. There are also some selective east coast schools that have contacted her within the past few days about official visits, so we are happy to learn about those schools and athletic programs and go for a visit this fall.

You might want to talk with Keith before you throw Purdue's program out there. Not sure how much time he has to develop a 36' shot putter. He's a good recruiter and those kids didn't come in and need much developing. If your heart is set on D1, look at a mid major who has developed talent. Kent State, Akron, SIUC, Western Michigan. It's hard to develop when you can't even compete at a track meet. What State are you from?

She's not throwing shot in college. She has not thrown shot since freshman year in HS, so that 36 mark is from when she was younger. She is interested in throwing discus, hammer, and javelin. Just wanted to clarify (or maybe I misunderstood).

She will need a coach that is willing to invest some time with her and develop the potential in her because she has not had much coaching until this summer. I should be more specific - her HS coach, who doesn't know a whole lot about throwing, has coached her to mostly throw all arm. This has resulted in some bad habits that the summer coach is working hard to correct. It will take some time, and we have found some meets within driving distance where she can continue to throw hammer and discus through December so that she can hopefully progress and improve her PRs. We trust the summer coach (he has coached NAIA national champs).

We are in the Great Plains. Lots of good throwers here, many compete at the D1 level when they go to college. Some compete at big name schools, others at smaller D1 schools. The ones that go to D2 or NAIA are at high caliber competitive schools. She is looking outside the region for many reasons - some for a different academic environment, different competition, different life experience. I'm not really familiar with throwing programs outside of the plains states, so I am grateful for the suggestions I have received from this board.

A place like Purdue may be a reach for her athletically, but maybe a place like Penn would be a good fit (if she can meet their academic standards). Rice may also be another good one, as were other suggestions.

Kentucky looks like it has an up-and-coming women's throws program.

Any offers?

Rather "late in the day," but I'm not sure Cornell has been mentioned yet. It offers a variety of business educations:

http://business.cornell.edu/

The Big Red also have an award-winning (literally) throws coach, Megan Johnson:

http://cornellbigred.com/coaches.aspx?rc=2864&path=wtrack

Megan herself, and many of her throwers (http://cornellbigred.com/roster.aspx?path=wtrack&), come from outside the Northeast. She has a wonderful bunch of (mostly) young female throwers who've been improving tremendously.

As with all the other Ivy League schools, financial aid is strictly need-based; but Ivy "need" awards--for all students, not just athletes--tend to very generous. Plus Cornell (again, for any student) will match a superior package that is offered by any other Ivy.

I appreciate all the advice we got on this thread! She was recruited by several Ivy League schools and Ivy-like schools. They offered some decent need-based aid, but at the end of the day it wasn't enough. She took an official visit to USouth Dakota and loved it - both academically and athletically. I also loved the price! After her visit she decided to cancel her other official visits and committed to USD and signed with them last week! Now she cannot wait to get to USD and start training!

Congrats and best wishes to her in Vermillion! Hope she likes being indoors a lot :)

Great new outdoor facility, and A.G. will be a very solid mentor.

As an alum of the University of South Dakota and the track team there, welcome! Hope that it is the same great experience that I had.

130 discus will get looks from small D1 schools.