200 A Has Nice Sound West Valley’s Pecht Would Like To Reach That Figure In Discus
Two years ago, Vinnie Pecht was just trying to reach the State AA track meet.
Last year, his goal was to be competitive.
This year, he would like to become the answer to a trivia question.
If the West Valley senior can continue his steady improvement as a discus thrower, he just might do it. WV assistant Howard Dolphin was at East Valley when Gene Lorenzen set the District 8 javelin record and then won state with a record throw of 231 feet, 6 inches in 1974. He was still there in 1980 when Mike Shill did the same thing with the shot put, establishing a state record of 64-6.
To get the triple crown of throwing records for Dolphin, Pecht would have to better 186 feet at district and 193 at state.
“Everything at this point with him is how good does he want to be,” Dolphin said. “He’s the only one who can answer that. If he makes a serious commitment to college throwing, he has the size and everything, all he needs is some really good years lifting. He didn’t start doing much lifting until recently… . If he had been a die-hard lifter from the time he was a freshman, he’d be over 200 now.”
Pecht realizes that and he is trying to make up for lost time.
“I wasn’t into it as a freshman,” he said. “I didn’t really like shot put as much. Discus felt right. The coaches said I had the right body and it felt good when I threw it.
“When I was a sophomore I looked up to a senior here, Joe Cariss. He threw about 140 and I thought that was good. Midseason, I beat him, I threw 140 and I led the league. I wasn’t really competing as a sophomore yet. I was just trying to get (to state).”
Pecht threw 155 to lead the Frontier League but bombed at state. Dolphin told him to chalk it up as a learning experience.
Pecht did and returned to finish second, behind Lynnwood legend Ben Lindsey.
“Last year at the Strandberg meet when I threw that 175 and I won that, that’s when I really started getting into it,” Pecht said.
Now he wants to continue his career at the college level, after he takes care of some business.
“Sometime when the wind’s right and my legs are fresh, I feel like a pop (200 foot throw) is in there,” he said.
Dolphin said if Pecht gets a record or two it would just be icing on the cake for his 45 years of coaching.
“(The real reward is) having the privilege of working with great kids,” Dolphin said. “Sometimes, when you’re working with them, you don’t realize how great they are. Just like Vinnie, he’s a great thrower. When it’s all over, then you think, ‘That was pretty great what that guy did.”’
Pecht isn’t making any promises, but he’s going to give it his best shot.
“I don’t like to talk a lot. I don’t want to sound cocky at the meets. I credit it all to my coach. If I didn’t have Coach Dolphin, I’d probably be a 120 thrower now. I’m sure if a lot of these other guys at these other schools had good throwing coaches like we did, there’s a lot of potential… .”
Just like Pecht.
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