Jeffreys makes jump in javelin

Jon Jeffreys is hoping an earlier start makes for a longer finish.

Starting with the Texas Relays last month, the Washington State javelin ace is on a run of four straight meets in which he’s improved on his lifetime best – from 226 feet, 2 inches to 237-4, the seventh-best throw in the nation. That’s not a bad roll to take into the Pacific-10 Conference championships resuming Friday in Tempe, Ariz.

“I started training and throwing in September,” said Jeffreys, a senior from Spokane’s West Valley High School. “Normally, we don’t start until November or early December, but we’ve changed everything I’m doing. It took me all last season to get used to it and I wasn’t close to where I should have been.”

Once an “arm thrower who’d get lucky and hit one once in a while,” Jeffreys has worked hard to transfer his run-up speed into his throw. The results have not just included PRs, but more consistent series.

Alas, it hasn’t made him into the Pac-10 favorite. USC’s Corey White heaved a 267-10 throw a month ago.

“There are three guys nationally over 80 meters (262-5) in college and I don’t think there’s been that since the javelin changed back in 1985,” Jeffreys said. “But I’m ready to go into the 240s and 250 by the end of it all.”

Going the distance

Last February indoors, Maddie Bridgmon became the first Eastern Washington woman since Kari McKay in 1992 to win a Big Sky Conference distance race. Can the Eagles make a bigger breakthrough outdoors?

Both Bridgmon (5,000 meters) and Camille Moseley (1,500) have broken school records this year and are third on the Big Sky seasonal lists, though a fair piece behind Northern Arizona’s Lesley van Miert. Before she tackles the 5K at the conference meet in Sacramento, Calif., Bridgmon will make a run at the 10,000 title.

The Eagles aren’t going to match the distance depth of a Weber State – which scored 87 points in those races last year – but are encouraged by this unmatched set. Moseley, from Ellensburg, was on schedule to graduate last spring, but was so encouraged by her running that she returned to finish her outdoor eligibility. Bridgmon, a junior, originally arrived as a walk-on – all the way from Laramie, Wyo.

But competition isn’t their only worry this weekend.

“It’s supposed to be 101 degrees on Friday and 95 Saturday,” said EWU distance coach Chris Zeller. “With the extended winter we’ve had, that’s a tough adjustment.”

A Noble return

Rogers grad Rebekah Noble of Oregon was back on the track Friday for the first time since breaking her right foot last summer – serving as pacesetter in the women’s 800 at the Oregon Twilight.

“It was weird to be out in front,” she told the Eugene Register-Guard. “I’m always used to having a rabbit.”

The 2006 NCAA champion hopes to run in the U.S. Olympic trials in Eugene, though she admitted her foot hurt after the brief workout.

She wasn’t the only surprise guest at the Twilight. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama made an appearance – and managed to interrupt the men’s javelin, to the dismay of the throwers.

Bell lap

Whitworth has three javelin throwers in the NCAA Division III top 15. Junior Kory Kemp hit 205-9 at Spokane Falls last week to move to third on the national list, while freshman Alexander Hymel made a 20-foot jump to 198-7 and is 10th. Northwest Conference champ Joey VanHoomissen is at 196-2. … They keep hammering away at Idaho. The Vandals put a fourth thrower over 200 feet when sophomore James Rogan reached 203-2 a couple of weeks ago, and last weekend Matt Wauters hit 210-0 to reclaim the school record from Marcus Mattox. But only five men score at the WAC meet and Boise State has two over 219 feet. … Oregon and Lewis and Clark grad Britney Henry pushed her hammer PR to 224-7 at the Oregon Twilight. … Olympic years are brutal. Bonners Ferry and Boise State alum Forest Braden slashed 44 seconds from his lifetime best in the 10,000 at the Stanford Invitational to 28:35.36 – and saw 30 other competitors run faster. … Sandpoint’s David Lissy of Air Force will contend for the Mountain West shot put title, having thrown 56-4 – 31/4 inches off the league lead.