What Is Up With This?

So far this is shaping up to be something of a weird year for the throwing events in my age group. It could be that it’s not just my age group that is affected, but I don’t track the other age groups as closely as I do my own. The “weirdness” about it all is that while I’m doing a little better in my competitions, I’m doing a lot better with the respect to the national rankings. And this isn’t showing up in just one event – it’s pretty much across the board. So just what has happened to the competition?

OK, granted the season is only half over and there are plenty of big meets yet to be contested, including the National Championships in August. But typically by June many of the better performers have competed in a few meets, and they would have posted some fairly decent marks. What I’m seeing is that while the very top performers have done just that, the second tier athletes (the ones that normally bump me down the rankings lists) are noticeably absent from the rankings. I wonder what is up with that?

Here’s what the rankings look like as of June 7th:

Hammer Throw: Currently, anything would make the top 25 because only 7 marks have been posted to-date, the lowest of which is 125’ 4”.

Shot Put: Same story for Shot Put. Only 23 marks have been posted, with the lowest being 20’ 10”. For the past 4 or 5 years you would have needed a 42’ throw (over twice as far!) to make the year-end top 25 in Shot Put.

Discus: 94’ 6” gets you in the top 25 right now. At the end of last year the 25th place throw was over 134’.

Javelin: 82’ 9” makes the top 25 currently. One had to be over 143’ 3” last year.

Weight Throw: All the current Weight Throw marks are fairly solid, with the lowest being just shy of 45’. However, only 5 marks have been submitted.

Weight Pentathlon: Again, all fairly decent marks year-to-date, but here again, only 4 marks have been submitted.

Hopefully what I’m seeing is not indicative of a general decline in participation, and that the second half of the season will see some quality performances being submitted for ranking. I’ve been having way too much fun competing in these events in recent years to see them slowly evaporate before my eyes.