TRACK AND FIELD Blewitt believes, seeks to improve

The Boardman High graduate takes aim at qualifying for the Summer Olympics.
By JOHN KOVACH
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Move over bicyclist Lance Armstrong. Here comes shot-putter Adriane Blewitt of Boardman.
Armstrong overcame cancer to win five straight Tour de France titles and capture the national and world spotlight. Blewitt is hoping for the same kind of comeback success in the upcoming U.S. Olympic Team Trials in track and field for the Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.
Blewitt, who is making a strong and steady comeback from Hodgkin's Lymphoma and now is considered cancer-free, will be trying to make the U.S. team. Her attempt is expected to make her one of the top stories of the U.S. Trials and vault her into the national spotlight.
The former Boardman High and Ashland University star will join eight of her teammates from the Ashland Elite post-collegiate training program in the U.S. Trials, which will be held at California State University-Sacramento in the Alex G. Spanos Sports Complex beginning Friday and ending July 18.
Left today
Blewitt left for Sacramento today with her mother, Rae Blewitt; former Boardman High coach Denise Gorski and a big entourage of family and friends. She will be joined by her eight Ashland Elite teammates, including three other women: Jackie Jeschelnig (Mentor) and Tara Loper (Jackson, Miss.), both in the women's hammer throw; and Roberta Collins (Sandusky), women's discus.
The men are Jud Logan, Blewitt's coach, who is seeking his fifth Olympic medal in the hammer throw; A.G. Kruger (Sheldon, Iowa) and Rich Ulm (Kingstown, R.I.), both also in the hammer throw; Chris Adams (New Brauselis, Texas), shot put; and Sean Robbins (Akron), long jump.
Blewitt will not compete until July 15 starting at 5:35 p.m. in a field of 24 opening-round candidates of the women's shot-put qualifications. She'll be trying to make the final 12 for the July 16 finals that will begin at 7:45 p.m. and determine the three U.S. team members.
Improving distance
Before Blewitt was stricken with cancer last year around September, her longest shot put mark was 59-2 with the 4-kilo (8.8-pound) ball, and she was ranked No. 4 in the nation among women throwers.
Since completing six months of chemotherapy in March and continuing her weightlifting program and resuming throwing competition, she has increased her distance from 51-4 1/4 on April 10 at the University of Tennessee Sea Ray Relays to 54-6 3/4 on June 3 in the Jesse Owens meet at Ohio State, her last meet competition when she said she began to feel like her old self.
That's when, "I started to feel the same things I did last year, [like] my routine and rhythm," she noted.
But Blewitt doesn't know how much further she will be able to throw at the Trials.
"Every meet has been a surprise [to me] at how I have done. I am pleased with my improvement. I'm just going to go there and do my best. I don't know how I will do," said Blewitt. "It only takes one [good throw]."
Practicing
Since the Ohio State meet, she has been throwing at practices with either heavier or lighter balls to help rebuild her technique and form. So her distances since then are not truly reflective of her current capability since the OSU meet.
Her pre-Trials objective now is "to feel confident in my technique, just practice, practice, practice. Repetition is necessary. I have been doing this for a while. I just need to be confident in what I am doing.
"I've never tried to hold anything back [in recent practices]. Sometimes the energy was not there."
Blewitt is under no illusions. Because of her setback, she knows that she has an uphill battle to regain lost ground and make the U.S. Team. Although she is back to her original weight of 173 pounds, she still has not regained her previous strength.
"I don't consider myself as strong as before. I consider myself only 80 percent of the strength as last year," said Blewitt.
"[But] I do sense an improvement," she said. "I'm heading in the right direction."
kovach@vindy.com