Throwing for state

It all comes down to six throws. Each.

East Valley seniors Lyndzie Johnson and Kenzie Carter have pushed each other in the shot put and discus through four years of high school track and field. Friday and Saturday, at the Class 3A regional meet at Richland High School, the pair want their six throws to be good enough to allow them to make six more at next week’s state meet.

Johnson finished second in the shot put at last week’s district meet with a throw of 36 feet 1 1/2 inches and qualified fourth in the discus at 118 feet.

Carter was second in the discus at 124-2 and just missed qualifying in the shot put.

Last week’s meet wasn’t about the distances, both insist. It was about moving on to regionals.

“With districts, the whole thing is to finish in the top five,” Johnson said. “I told myself I didn’t care where I finished, so long as I was going on to regionals. I missed it last year, and I really want to keep going.

“In the discus, I was doing so bad. I was in sixth place and the top five qualify for regional. When I get nervous I get slow and steppy, so I told myself to speed up and I got fourth. That’s not great, but it keeps me going. I can throw again this weekend.”

“If I throw well, I can finish first or second at regionals in the discus,” Carter said. “I finished sixth in the shot put because the girl who finished fifth put up a personal record by about two feet. I was a little disappointed, but I was really happy for her.”

That’s the thing with Johnson and Carter. They push themselves to top one another every day and pull just as hard for one another at the same time.

“My dad made a side bet with me,” Johnson laughed. “I asked him if he’d get me an iPod if I go 130 (in the discus). He said, ‘I’ll give Kenzie an iPod if she goes 130.’ “

The pair have been pushing and pulling for each other since their freshman year.

“I’ve been doing this since seventh grade,” Carter said. “Lyndzie came out as a freshman. At first she really liked discus and I really liked the shot, but when we got to be sophomores, we switched.”

Perhaps the biggest misconception people have about the shot put and discus is that they are all about strength.

“Oh absolutely,” Carter said. “Really, they’re 90 percent about technique. Well, I don’t know about 90 percent, but you can be the strongest person out here and if you don’t have good technique, you’re not going to do well.

“You can never get close to your potential without good technique.”

From that standpoint, Carter, who stands all of 5-8 and plays outside hitter on the volleyball team, competes in her two chosen events by squeezing the most out of her potential by having superior technique.

“You never get it all together,” she said. “You get one thing down and something else goes out of whack. It’s amazing how just a couple of degrees in the angle of your hand release can make a huge difference.

“There are so many factors that figure into a good throw: the weather you’re throwing in, the type of ring you’re throwing in, how much wind there is and what direction it’s coming from. It all figures into how well you’re going to throw.”

For that matter, Johnson has an unorthodox approach to the throwing events.

“I have to be happy to throw well,” she said. “My coaches are always telling me to get mad, but for me, that doesn’t work. I have to be happy, and when I get to the end, I’m just trying to beat myself – to get a little better with each throw.

Both athletes are confident they can put all their technique together for one really good throw at Richland.

“Last year I was throwing the discus 110 feet pretty consistently,” Johnson said. “Then one meet, bang, I went 125. It was the same way with the shot. It was 36 to 37 feet pretty consistently and then bang, PR.

“When you do that, you just go back and try to figure out, ‘How did I do that?’ and try to do it again.”

Carter looks forward to the competition. Competition, she says, translates into better performance.

“I love it – the more competition the better,” she said. “You only compete to the level of your competitors. That’s why I love having Lyndzie here. We’re always fighting against each other. It’s like – I’ve thrown 120 today, but I know that Lyndzie can go 125, so I’d better get out there first.

“I love competition. That’s why this weekend and next is so important. You want to be out there and you want to thrive off of everyone’s energy. Most people buckle in competition. That’s what our coach is always telling us: you have to compete. You have to keep going and keep pushing as hard as you can on every throw.”