Saturday, May 22, 2004
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- If Christen Clemson of Penn State continues to increase her distances in the discus like she has all season, the sophomore thrower from Maplewood High has an excellent chance of qualifying for the NCAA national meet.
"I really think I have an awesome chance of going. I really think I can do it," said Clemson, who will be competing in the NCAA Regional meet for the second straight year Saturday and Sunday at the University of Florida.
She will be trying to qualify for the NCAA National Championships June 10-12 at the University of Texas, after missing a chance to advance in last year's regional.
"To win the regional, it will depend a lot on the weather, but I would have to throw 170 [feet to make the top five]," said Clemson. "I don't think that I can win it because there are good throwers from Florida and North Carolina, but I think I can place in the top five."
In last year's NCAA regional, Clemson threw 167 feet, 5 inches as a freshman to place seventh, missing the qualifying cut by just one foot. Only the top five qualify for the national.
Has thrown 167-8
Clemson's best throw this season was a personal-best 167-8 in the Big Ten Championships held May 14-16 at Purdue, to take runner-up behind Melissa Bickett of Michigan (170-10).
Previous to that, Clemson had qualified for the upcoming NCAA Regional with a winning throw of 160-5 at the 110th Penn Relays held April 22-24 in Philadelphia.
And since then, she has improved her distance by 7 feet, 3 inches to the 167-8 mark at the Big Ten Championships.
In fact, Clemson has increased her distance by 14 feet, 7 inches since the season began, after throwing 153-1 in the first outdoor meet in March.
So, she has demonstrated that she has the capacity to improve each time she throws, which bodes well for her future.
"It's not hard to pick up inches here and there; not at all, it's very easy," said Clemson. But, "You have to adjust your throw to conditions. It's one of the events that is most affected by wind and weather."
She also said positive thinking, a muscle-building off-season training program and using the best technique consistently have helped her to improve steadily.
Eyes Olympics
Clemson also is entertaining hopes of making the U.S. Olympic team for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China.
She noted that there are two qualifying standards for the Olympics: an automatic-qualifying distance of 196 feet, and a B-standard distance of 186 feet, the latter providing backup throwers if they are needed by the team.
"I'm still a ways off but I am hoping that by the time the 2008 Olympics in Beijing roll around, I can qualify," said Clemson.
She plans to return home soon to resume her summer workouts with her long-time personal coach, Ed Wilson, who has been coaching her since she was a sophomore at Maplewood.
"He was my AAU coach while in high school, and we will work on anything that has to be improved," said Clemson, who began throwing the discus in the seventh grade in middle school, encouraged by Beth Hanuschak, the Maplewood junior high track coach.
Clemson went on to become a two-time Division III state champion in the discus for Maplewood High under coach Dave Deeter.
The daughter of Barbara and Mike Clemson, Christen is majoring in secondary English education and has about a 3.2 grade-point average.
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