Whiting Dominated SP, Nearly Set Outdoor CR

Ryan Whiting had a 22-meter void to fill in 2010.

Whiting eyed that 72-foot, 2¼-inch expanse on his final throw as a collegian in the shot put at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon. 

The Arizona State senior had already locked up his fifth NCAA shot put title – second-straight outdoors – and became the 10th man to complete the shot-discus double in meet history, but it all felt a little bit hollow if he didn’t break John Godina’s 15-year-old collegiate record. 

“I wasn’t worried about winning,” said Whiting, who was undefeated against collegians in the shot in each of the previous two years. “I just wanted to defend and go for the record. I had been in the high 20’s, low 21s all year, usually on my first throw.

“But the NCAA is different … You get a little more nervous,” Whiting continued. “So the game plan was to win first and then try to get the record.”

Whiting put the competition out of reach in Round 2 with his 21.75m (71-4¼) effort and added another 70-footer in Round 3 at 21.78m (71-5½). After a pair of lesser marks in Round 4 and Round 5, Whiting steadied himself in the circle for what he hoped would be the record-setter.

A smooth spin beget a monstrous, violent heave that impacted the dirt near the stop board.

“The last throw usually hasn’t been my best – but this one would be different, as my last college throw,” Whiting said. “I knew it had to be different, so I tried to get a little more in it.”

The measurement came in as Whiting glanced over the shoulder of an official – 21.97m (72-1).

Whiting, an eventual finalist for The Bowerman, was understandably disappointed, but that soon washed away.

“I’m over not getting the record,” Whiting later told Track & Field News. “John Godina called me and offered congratulations and said I had had the best college season ever. So that took off the edge of missing it.”