Christensen on a crusade to get javelin approved in South Carolina

By Brian Towey for DyeStat 

The impact Liam Christensen has had on the high school javelin is significant.

The senior thrower from Academic Magnet High School in North Charleston, S.C., is the defending New Balance Nationals champion in the event and a four-time All-American who will compete at Stanford next year.

Over the weekend, he increased his national-leading mark this year to 223 feet, 10 inches (68.22m).

Yet Christensen’s footprint on the javelin has the potential to loom much larger in the future.

In South Carolina, the javelin has not been practiced since 1956, according to The Post and Courier newspaper.

At Academic Magnet, students are asked to do a senior thesis. Christensen kicked around a lot of ideas for his, but kept coming back to one: He would write about the javelin, and why the state should bring it back.

“My successes in the javelin are because of some unlikely events,” Christensen said. “My coach moved to Charleston and had never done the event. We learned it together. I didn’t think it could only happen to me.”

Christensen has traveled to Finland to work with the some of the world’s best javelin coaches through the National Scholastic Athletics Foundation’s Project Javelin Gold. He has competed in Colombia at the 2015 IAAF World Youth Championships. And he’ll enroll at Stanford on a partial athletic scholarship, thanks to the javelin.

“He realized the javelin proposal was begging to be done,” said Michael Flournoy, javelin coach at the Mount Pleasant (S.C.) Track Club, who has worked with Christensen since the sixth grade.

“And that he was the right person to do it.”

The javelin's place at the high school level

There are only 19 state associations that sanction the javelin.

Missouri added the event to its state championship this year, following a two-year trial period as an exhibition event. The rest are New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Vermont, Rhode Island, Washington, Oregon, Montana, North Dakota, Louisiana, Arizona, Alabama, Utah, Kansas and Nebraska.

According to Jeff Gorski, one of the coaches with Project Javelin Gold and the former Chairman of the Javelin in the USATF’s High Performance Division – Gorski works with Christensen regularly – the event was widespread in the United States at the high school level before World War II.

“I live in North Carolina, and they had the javelin,” Gorski said. “Just about every state had a javelin program.”

So why is the javelin no longer practiced nationwide?

“I believe it was a combination of economic issues (following World War II) with perceived safety issues,” Gorski said.

Safety concerns

There is a widely held view that perceptions of safety are what are holding the event back.

“I think (the lack of popularity of the javelin) must be about safety concerns,” said Jim Spier, Executive Director of the National Scholastic Athletics Foundation.

“It’s been around since the 1940s or 1930s. It’s not more popular because of perceptions of the danger.”

Gorski, along with Spier, is one of the founders of Project Javelin Gold, a program that started five years ago in response to the lack of competitive American javelin throwers at the international level. Project Javelin Gold enlists eight high school javelin throwers – Christensen among them – and offers world-class training.

“Basically, the biggest issue is that (the javelin) is a scary spear,” Gorski said.

Gorski views javelin accidents as rare, in large part because high-level throwers, who could potentially hurt someone, have experience in executing the event.

“The vast number of throwers that get to the level (that they) can surprise someone, they know that people can get in the way,” Gorski said. “It’s kind of self-policing.”

Finding a home in Alabama

In 2000, Gorski assisted the state of Alabama in introducing the javelin.

“I suggested, for safety issues, ‘Let’s introduce it with a rubber-tip,’” he said.

Traditionally, high school programs throw a steel-tipped javelin. But according to Gorski, the rubber-tipped javelin is safer and just as aerodynamic as the steel-tipped javelin.

“A blunt-nosed javelin will fly just as far as a steel-tipped javelin,” Gorski said. “Actually, it could be a potential advantage to the athlete (with its ability to fly).”

Four states throw the rubber-tipped javelin: Alabama, North Dakota, Washington and New Jersey. The rubber-tipped javelin can be used in high school competitions at the state level, but at national-caliber meets – like New Balance Nationals or the Junior Olympics – throwers must use a steel-tipped javelin.

To further his case for the safety of the event for officials in Alabama, Gorski turned to Frederick O. Mueller, who was one of his professors at the University of North Carolina at the time (Christensen, in his thesis, followed suit).

“Mueller did a study of catastrophic injuries in NCAA athletes (from 1982-2000),” Gorski said. “He did research over 20 years with some really conservative numbers.”

According to Gorski, Mueller’s research estimated that around 80 percent of college programs offered the javelin at the time. In figuring out sample size, he estimated that each college program would have one male thrower and one female thrower.

Over a 20-year period, including roughly 280,000 athletes in his study, Mueller documented only four javelin-related injuries.

“I’m not under the impression that there weren’t more people injured by javelins over 20 years,” Gorski said. “People have been hurt more than that. (But) they were just minor injuries and they didn’t report them.”

In his senior thesis, Christensen included a broader sample set of Mueller’s research, using the professor’s findings from 1982 to 2012.

Mueller’s findings include a table that is particularly relevant to track and field: “Track Participants and Spectators Struck by Thrown Objects (1992-2012).”

Of the 24 incidents that took place, seven involved the javelin. These included a track manager who was struck in the neck by a javelin in 1993 and an athlete who was impaled by a javelin in the shoulder (both athletes recovered). The study lists four fatalities: three from the discus and one from the shot put.

“First, I was really surprised about how few fatalities there were from it,” Christensen said. “Obviously there are other factors, like how many athletes participated in it. This article is based on catastrophic injuries. The type of injuries involving the javelin that are more common are less severe injuries; most (javelin) injuries come from improper training.”

Gorski found a willing audience for Mueller’s report in Alabama state officials. The professor’s research related to helmet-related injuries was well-known, particularly in a football-centric state like Alabama.

“Anything related to that (football aspect) – that had his name on it – would have had weight,” Gorski said.

Alabama introduced the javelin in 2000 as a trial event, using the rubber-tipped javelin. Eighteen months later, it was enacted as a full-scoring event.

“It’s pretty popular here,” said Houston Young, who has officiated in track and field in Alabama for over 50 years and coached at Selma High School.

“We’ve had kids that have gained college scholarships for it.”

A showcase in the Show-Me State

Missouri is the latest state to add the javelin. After a two-year trial period in which it was an exhibition event, this outdoor season it gained full, scoring-event status at the state meet.

“Not knowing how popular it was going to be, we were hesitant about making it a full-scoring event, because we didn’t want to give certain programs a scoring advantage,” said Jason West, Communications Director for the Missouri State High School Activities Association. “We wanted to see how many schools were going to be involved. Different schools with track programs or just larger schools with track programs. What we found was that all classes, all schools, had people participating.”

The MSHAA had introduced the event in large part because of athletes like Sophia Rivera, a shot put champion at the New Balance Nationals Indoor in 2015 and a four-time Missouri state champion in the discus. She was already an accomplished javelin thrower before the state implemented the javelin as a trial event in 2014-15, winning an AAU Junior Olympic title in 2014.

Yet, Rivera never had the opportunity to throw for her high school.

“I definitely think it’s going to be a great thing,” said Rivera, now a freshman at the University of Wisconsin. “The first year (in Missouri) it was a lot of learning about the event and getting everyone used to it as a new event. …  I really enjoyed talking to people about the event and explaining it to them.”

Rivera qualified for the Olympic Trials in the javelin April 18, 2016 at a high school meet at her school in Brentwood, Mo.

“I started throwing the javelin in New Jersey, where they throw it with the rubber tip,” Rivera said. “Ever since then I’ve loved it. I wish more people would have the opportunity to do it.”

According to Gorski, other states could be following Missouri’s lead. Last week, a proposal for the introduction of the rubber-tipped javelin for the 2018-19 school year was unanimously approved by the Florida Athletic Coaches Association. The official proposal needs to gain approval by the Florida High School Athletic Association – it has yet to be presented – to become part of Florida’s program.

“(Florida) all happened really quickly, in a span of two weeks,” Gorski said. “That looks pretty optimistic. You talk about a state with a big population and good weather.”

Trusting the process at home could lead to future gains

In South Carolina, Christensen’s proposal required submission via his school administrators at Academic Magnet and then surmount two obstacles to succeed.

First, it would need to be approved the by South Carolina Athletic Coaches Association. Then, it would need to be approved by a vote within its classification in the South Carolina High School League (there are five high school classifications in the state of South Carolina).

The thesis touches on safety issues, logistics and potential costs but also provides a rationale for adopting the event in a sensible manner.

“It’d be a really good idea to have it at the high school level, but not just throw it out there,” Christensen said. “In my opinion, it can be done safely. It’s just a manner of how it’s carried out.”

In March, the SCACA unanimously passed the proposal to re-introduce the javelin. Christensen, as a guest, was able to attend the vote. Then, through Johnson, Christensen heard that the classification vote within the SCHSL did not pass.

“What I heard is that it was a lack of space,” Christensen said. “(That) there’s not enough space for high schools to train.”

Nessie Harris of the SCHSL elaborated on the decision.

“Basically, the executive board was looking for more information and more information related to the safety of the sport,” Harris said. “They were waiting for the Coaches Association to give more feedback on the questions they had. … Safety was one of them.”

Christensen was disappointed with the verdict.

“Honestly, I was kind of surprised they didn’t at least do it as an exhibition event,” he said. “It (would be) kind of a display of how much potential there is in South Carolina.”

Despite the proposal’s failure, Christensen was encouraged by the support for the measure state wide.

“I was surprised by the (feedback) I received from coaches about it,” Christensen said. “I didn’t think it’d become as popular as it was.”

Flournoy remains optimistic about the prospects of the javelin taking hold at the high school level in South Carolina.

“There were a high number of coaches who expressed a lot of support to Liam in the process regarding the event,” Flournoy said. “It stands a good chance of making it (through). I’m optimistic in the future that this proposal will be voted on each year.”

Colleges taking notice

Why would athletes benefit by competing in the javelin at the state level?

“It’s a unique and technical event,” Spier said. “If you get good at it, you’ve got a good path to a college scholarship.”

Gorski noted that there are alternative paths to the javelin outside of high school competition.

“Just because they don’t throw it in your state doesn’t mean that there aren’t opportunities to throw,” said Gorski, referring to the USATF Junior Olympic circuit.

“(But) they have to have the perseverance knowing that not many people are going to do it.”

Another throwing event, with an even steeper hill to climb, is the hammer.

Ultimately, Gorski views the event’s inclusion at the high school level as beneficial to its growth.

“As many people as can be exposed to it (the better),” he said.