Throwers put on a show

It may have been the shortest track meet in Spokane history – except there was no track.

The 18th annual Ironwood Throwers Camp took over Whitworth College last week, and as usual the faculty – which included Olympic gold medalists Mac Wilkins and Harold Connolly for starters, as well as recent national champions Jillian Camarena and Becky Breisch – dazzled the 192 assembled campers.

Especially when the big kids got into the ring to throw.

For the second year in a row, Ironwood staged a throwers meet for its elite guests. Just the shot put, discus and hammer – quick, long and loud.

“The kids in the camp get a lot out of it,” said camp director Bart Templeman of Coeur d’Alene. “The instruction is important, but this is a chance for them to see it happening.”

In the process, the stadium records at Boppell Track were obliterated.

Kibwe Johnson, one of hammer great Jud Logan’s protégés with the Ashland, Ohio, Elite club, won the men’s discus and hammer with throws of 193 feet, 1 inch and 236-6, respectively. The former broke the Boppell record by more than 17 feet, the latter by a full 36 feet.

Camarena, a Stanford graduate, got off the longest American shot put mark this year – 62-5, which added a mere 17 feet to the field record. Breisch, last year’s national champion in the discus, added nearly 34 feet to that record with a 189-0 toss, and North Idaho College graduate Crystal Smith sent the hammer out 205-8.

Even 44-year-old Olympic silver medalist Lance Deal got back in the hammer ring and managed to spin a throw out 212-6.

Templeman named the event for the late Ben Plucknett, a former Ironwood instructor and still the American record holder in the discus – and for good reason.

“Ben’s still with us,” he said. “He set up a trust for us that leaves us up to $40,000 to give away each year to college freshmen who are throwers – we give out 10 $3,500 scholarships. He also gave us 10 $450 scholarships to the Ironwood camp. And we get to do this for 30 years.

“He was with us for seven or eight years as a coach and he loved the camp. He was one of those kids himself who was big and maybe not very well coordinated back in high school, and he had a speech impediment and lots of kids made fun of him at that age. When he was with us, he’d have a knack of finding those kids who stood in the back and maybe felt a little awkward.”

Arnold reaches high standard

Dominique Arnold broke the world record in the high hurdles on Tuesday. He just didn’t do it first.

But the former NCAA champion from Washington State did set an American record in the 110-meter highs in running second to China’s Liu Xiang at the Athletissima meet in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Arnold was clocked 12.90 seconds – just .02 behind Liu, the 2004 Olympic champion. Both were faster than Colin Jackson’s 13-year-old world record of 12.91, but Arnold took an even older record off the books – Roger Kingdom’s American mark of 12.92 which dated back to 1989.

Arnold, 27, won his first USATF title last month in Sacramento, Calif. He then launched his European season last Saturday, finishing second to American teammate Terrance Trammell in Paris, with Liu fourth.

“Unlike sprinters, who dodge each other,” Arnold said after the USATFs, “we see each other all the time.”

Walker soars in Israel

Brad Walker has been a national champion in the United States three times – and now once in Israel.

Competing as an invited guest at the Israel Athletics Championships in Tel Aviv on Tuesday, the University High School graduate won the pole vault over local favorite Alex Averbukh with a season-best jump of 19-4 1/4.

That’s Walker’s second jump better than 19 feet this summer and the third-best vault in the world, behind the Australian pair of Paul Burgess, who cleared 19-5 on Saturday, and Steven Hooker. Walker then tried to claim himself an American record, but missed three jumps at 19-9 3/4. Walker, like Arnold, is entered in Friday’s Golden Gala meet in Rome.

Bell lap

Walker and Arnold are No. 1 in their events in the IAAF season rankings. Other top 10 athletes with area connections are WSU grads Bernard Lagat (third in the 1,500) and Ian Waltz (sixth, discus) and former Idaho standout Joaquim Olsen (fourth, shot put). Olsen is on a streak of 10 consecutive meets with throws longer than 21 meters (68-10 3/4). … Three area collegians medaled at the recent North America, Central America and Caribbean U-23 championships in Santo Domingo. Idaho’s Russ Winger was the runner-up in the men’s shot put with a toss of 63-8, Spokane’s Britney Henry (Lewis and Clark) took third in the women’s hammer (214-7) and another Vandal, Bevin Kennelly, was third in the women’s steeplechase, competing for Canada. … Plantes Ferry Park will be the site of the USATF National Junior Olympic Cross Country Championships on Dec. 6.