Idaho thrower Blake Sturgis’ winding road through college athletics culminates at NCAA Nationals

About the only regrets University of Idaho thrower Blake Sturgis can summon from his college days are the credits that didn’t transfer and the medals that didn’t accumulate.

“There’s a big difference from high school to college in terms of hardware,” noted the Spokane javelin thrower, betraying a small laugh.

“I have a whole pile of medals from high school, and just one silver medal from college. I’d like to change that – add a little something to the trophy case.”

His last chance comes Wednesday when the NCAA Division I Track and Field Championships begin at Hayward Field in Eugene, the culmination of a journey that seems unique among his peers.

Or do most top-level college throwers start out as Division III basketball players?

Or as cross country runners at a 100-student high school?

Sturgis was both, but the distance he’s traveled since his days at Valley Christian School has found a metaphor in the soaring throws he produces, these days for the University of Idaho.

In his last outing, he managed an eighth-place finish at the NCAA’s West regional, throwing the javelin 236 feet, 7 inches in conditions that were challenging, at best. A 6:15 p.m. start was pushed back two hours because of a weather delay – that didn’t stop a pouring rain from drenching the competition anyway. As the next-to-last thrower in a field of 48, Sturgis found himself taking his three attempts as the clock ticked toward midnight.

“You just had to accept that everyone was experiencing the same terrible conditions,” Sturgis said. “I had a horrible first throw (202-1) and just had to sit down and lock in mentally, and was extremely happy to get to 72 meters.”

In normal conditions, he’s beginning to think of that as his baseline, a starting point he’s been able to ratchet up every year – unfettered progress that’s beyond rare in the track world.

Not that Sturgis exactly threw himself into that world.

“My junior year of high school, right after COVID, I just kind of made the decision I was going to do everything my school offered,” he said. “I did cross country, I did basketball and track. I guess I had a little knack for the javelin because I played a lot of baseball when I was younger.”

Even after claiming the State 1B title in 2022 – his 184-4 winner remains a record – the 6-foot-5 Sturgis saw himself more as a basketball player, and went off to the University of Dubuque in Iowa. Then he picked up the javelin again in the spring without any training, and while throwing in the 170s at meets in Dubuque and Cedar Rapids and Decorah and placing fourth – no medal, of course – in the American River Conference, he got the notion that this was his calling instead.

So he sent a message to Julie Taylor, who at the time coached throwers at Washington State.

“For some reason, she took a chance on me,” Sturgis said. “Nothing in my marks indicated I was Division I material – and my grades weren’t that great, either.”

Indeed, he hadn’t even reached WSU’s walk-on standard in the javelin yet. So why the gamble?

“I didn’t have a javelin thrower at that point,” Taylor admitted, “and I liked his size. But mostly I was impressed with him as a person and how he was when you talk to him one on one. I just had a good feeling about him, so why not give him a shot?”

And in his first outing as a Coug, Sturgis threw 210-8.

This was no abracadabra situation, obviously. Spending fall and winter in the weight room – at a level far beyond anything he’d experienced before – made all the difference. But what did seem almost magical was Sturgis’ linear improvement.

In his four years as a collegian, the average of his meet bests have jumped 24 feet from Dubuque to WSU, 17 feet in his second year as a Coug and 11 feet since following Taylor and transferring to Idaho after WSU eliminated everything but distance running from its track program last June. His average throw has rocketed from 166-11 as a freshman to 216-11 this year – and 235-11 in his last three meets, including a runner-up finish at the Big Sky Conference championships. Plateaus were nonexistent.

“He’s a bigger, way-stronger kid now,” Taylor said, “but he also understands the event and he’s willing to do all the little boring drills we do to make himself better. He’s committed in a way not every kid is.”

There have been trade-offs. Jumping schools has cost him “almost two semesters” in credits that did not transfer, so he won’t graduate until December. But he’s not going anywhere, anyway – he and Idaho thrower Lindi Kessinger became engaged last month, and she has two more years of eligibility to fulfill while he plots throwing as a postcollegian.

He’s the No. 10 thrower in the NCAA field of 24 based on regional qualifying, 15th based on personal best. Naturally, he’s aiming higher – and it’s likely to take a school record (he’s 5 inches away) to score among the top eight.

“This is it,” Sturgis said. “This is kind, ‘How am I going to be remembered?’ if that makes sense. I haven’t been at Idaho long, and I’d like to leave an impression. I want to be the guy who came in and kicked ass and made the podium.”

It seems like he’s come too far not to.