Varsity Kansas - The Blog

by joanna

Matt Byers finished second in the javelin at the USA Junior Track and Field Championships today in Columbus, Ohio, throwing 218-2. He had the lead until Arkansas’ Luke Laird threw 219-8. Byers and Laird qualified for the World Junior championships in Poland.

I talked to Byers tonight and we talked a bit about state. That’s when he broke the 6A javelin record with a throw of 219-8, only to see Shawnee Mission South sophomore Johannes Swanepoel go 221-2. Byers said he sat there tonight and told an official that he did not want to see that happen again. But it did.

“I was just sitting there, kind of praying, and I told one of the officials, ‘I hope he doesn’t beat me. I’m not about to let this happen again.’ I was happy, though. I was the youngest one there, I’m pretty sure. The rest, pretty much, were college kids.”

Byers’ showing was especially gratifying because he’d strained ligaments around his ribs at state and didn’t throw hard until Sunday at WSU.

“I threw maybe two hard ones and I threw 200 both times. I told my dad that I’d be good to go. Then yesterday I threw one hard one and went 213, so I told him I’d be ready.”

Byers won’t be going to Poland, though. Since he didn’t even know until this week that he’d be going to Ohio, he didn’t get a passport, which he needed by today.  He wants to compete in the Junior Olympics next month in Nebraska.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 20th, 2008 at 7:57 p.m. and is filed under Track. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.