Alabama Junior Launched College Leader and Lifetime Best at Season-Opening Blazer Invitational

By Mary Albl of DyeStat

Photos courtesy University of Alabama

Scrolling through his photos this week, an image from 2017 popped up on Bobby Colantonio’s phone that gave him pause.

Colantonio is wearing an Alabama track jersey with a circular logo in the corner that reads “BC - Beat Cancer.”

The picture marks nearly five years from when Colantonio was in the middle of cancer treatment. In the late summer of 2016, just arriving at Alabama as a freshman from Rhode Island, and ready to start his next chapter as a collegiate athlete, the thrower learned he had a cancerous bone tumor in his left femur that was diagnosed as Ewing’s Sarcoma – a type of tumor that forms in bone or soft tissue. 

Flash forward to early 2022, Colantonio, a junior, is healthy and cancer free. Last weekend at the Blazer Invitational, he opened the indoor track season with a lifetime-best 79 feet, 2.75 inches (24.15m) in the weight throw at the CrossPlex in Birmingham. The mark is an NCAA leader and elevated Colantonio to the No. 7 all-time performer. 

“That picture, it kind of gave me goosebumps seeing that again because it feels so long ago, but at the same time, not so long ago,” Colantonio said. “It’s truly a blessing I’m here. I went into remission in 2017 and I’m going on five years soon, and I’ve been holding steady in remission. It was really reassuring to see how far I've come in five years. It was almost surreal when I saw the picture.”

His performance Jan. 14 was years in the making and once in doubt of ever happening. But Colantonio never discounted himself and what he’s capable of. 

“Realistically speaking, we kind of had a mark going into the meet that I thought I would throw and be OK with,” he said. “But for it to actually play out, and get a mark that was something I knew I could do, but actually seeing it in competition was super exciting.”

Colantonio, who fouled an even farther throw, said he wasn’t planning to compete at the Blazer Invitational, but was feeling good and anxious to start the season. His nearly 80-foot throw set a facility record. 

“We just said the heck with it, let's go throw and have fun,” Colantonio said. “A big training aspect for me this year is to just go and have fun and not force things. Last year being behind the eight ball I kind of forced things and made things harder on myself.”

The road to the top of the NCAA has been long. An All-American in high school at Barrington RI, Colantonio was given a 20 percent chance of survival after his initial cancer diagnosis. But with an aggressive treatment plan, including radiation, he beat the odds and battled back.

While the 2017-18 season was spent recovering and rebuilding, he experienced a strong freshman debut in 2019, placing 10th in the weight throw (68-11) at indoor nationals. His sophomore season saw a big jump and more progress as he set a personal-best throw of 77-2.75 (23.54m), breaking the school weight record early in January 2020. Then, his season was cut short and outdoors was canceled due to the pandemic.

In the fall, eager to pick back up where he left off, Colantonio suffered a torn abdominal muscle and had to take six weeks off from training. 

“That was kind of a huge setback,” he said. “Unfortunately last year indoor and outdoor didn’t go as planned, but I made the best of it with the cards I was given and still managed to make All-American, so I was blessed and fortunate for that. But it wasn’t the year I was hoping for.”

Placing fifth in the weight throw at indoor nationals and following that up with a 15th-place showing in the hammer throw during the Division 1 outdoor nationals, Colantonio just missed out on a spot for qualifying for the U.S. Olympic Trials. He said he took some time off, reset, and spent the summer and fall easing himself back into training and falling in love with the sport again. 

“I just went out and threw and just tried to find myself a little more in the sense of making sure that I was getting in tune with technique and not worried about staring at a camera, looking at video and critiquing myself,” he said. “(I) was just letting myself find my own rhythm and feel the hammer as opposed to nitpicking.”

Part of Colantonio’s inspiring journey has been his relationship with Alabama throws coach, Derek Yush, for almost four years. Originally recruited by Doug Reynolds, it was Yush who took over coaching duties when Colantonio was making his comeback. Not sure of what to expect of himself and the program, he said the two connected from the start, establishing a successful foundation for Colantonio to build on.  

“He’s been a huge support to me since I got here, Colantonio said. “I think he's done a phenomenal job of taking on something that possibly has never been done, coaching someone coming back from what I had,  and come back from at that level. I think he took a huge risk and gamble because there’s no literature out there, there’s no doctor who can say how to do it. So I think he accepted a challenge that was extremely hard and has done a phenomenal job with it. He’s a key cog in the system that I have and being the athlete that I am, and I think he’s done a great job of supporting and pushing me, mentally as much as he does athletically, and technically.”

Colantonio is feeling strong and healthy and has a chance to make history this winter. In NCAA indoor track, there has never been three consecutive years with an 80-foot weight throw. With Gleb Dudarev of Kansas (2020) and Florida graduate Thomas Mardal (2021), the reigning Division 1 indoor champion, hitting that mark, Colantonio is less than a foot from maintaining the streak. 

“I do want to keep getting better and chasing these bigger marks and the better I get the more and more hungrier I get,” Colantonio said.

His next chance at an 80-footer arrives when he competes Feb. 4-5 at the Charlie Thomas Invitational hosted by Texas A&M in College Station, Texas, the same venue where he will throw Feb. 25-26 at the Southeastern Conference Indoor Championships. 

“It’s right around the corner,” he said. “It’s super, super, super, thrilling. I remember in high school when I hit 80 (feet) and I was super pumped. It’s kind of going to come down to containing myself in meets. I'm extremely excited for it, and I know it’s right there and it’s more than attainable, but it just comes down to me letting it play out and not forcing it and keeping my composure.”