Nike’s ‘You throw, we outfit’ arrangement aids Blewitt

By John Kovach

Second Sole’s Steve Hixson of Boardman is a big supporter of the shot put hopeful.

BOARDMAN — Thanks to Steve Hixson, owner of Second Sole Athletic Footwear of Boardman, Adriane Blewitt will be wearing a Nike uniform when she competes in the women’s shot put at the 2008 U.S. Summer Olympic Trials this week at the University of Oregon.

Hixson intervened and negotiated a sponsorship deal for Blewitt with Nike last winter, and since then the Olympic candidate has been receiving training and throwing shoes, uniforms, shot puts and other gear from the company.

Nike’s contribution not only has eased Blewitt’s financial burden during training, but also has given her valuable identification with one of the most famous companies in the world for athletic equipment, and worldwide endorsement and recognition from that relationship.

Blewitt’s uniform will advertise not only Nike, but also logos for Hixson’s Second Sole store and Run Ohio Magazine.

After Hixson secured Nike’s backing, he added his company to the sponsorship list and then secured Run Ohio.

Denise Gorski, Blewitt’s Boardman High coach who has co-led her proteg ’s area fundraising drive the past year that netted $28,000, said Hixson’s support of Blewitt has been very important because it indentified Blewitt with Nike.

SDLqDuring the winter, Steve Hixson, owner of Second Sole, approached his Nike representative about helping Adriane in some way,” said Gorski.

“Second Sole and Run Ohio Magazine had put together a club of seven distance runners and Steve said he would add Adriane, even though she was a thrower, to his team.

“So for the past several months, she has been receiving [equipment] from Nike arranged through Second Sole,” said Gorski, who will accompany Blewitt to the trials along with Blewitt’s mother, Rae.

Gorski said Blewitt, who overcame cancer in 2003 to compete in the 2004 Olympic trials, prefers and loves having a sponsor.

Gorski said Blewitt told her, “ ‘I want to compete for someone and not just have unattached next to my name.’ So for her to compete for a hometown club speaks volumes about both her and Second Sole/Run Ohio.”

Blewitt, who failed to make the U.S. Olympic team in the 2004 trials with a fifth-place finish not long after her battle with cancer, will compete against 19 other shot-putters competing in the semifinals of the U.S. Olympic trials Thursday, trying to be among the 16 who advance to the finals Saturday.

The top three finishers will make the U.S. team for the 2008 Summer Olympics that will begin Aug. 8 in Beijing, China.

The semifinals will begin Thursday at 9:20 p.m. (12:20 a.m. Friday EDT), but it is not known when Blewitt will throw. Saturday’s finals will begin at 4:50 p.m. EDT.

By distance, Blewitt is ranked No. 14 among the 20 entries, but is rated No. 6 in the nation by the U.S. Track and Field Magazine entering the trials.

She also is one of only three of the 20 shot-putters in Thursday’s prelims to have Nike sponsorship.

The other two are No. 1-ranked Jillian Camarena of Tucson, Ariz., who is also sponsored by the New York Athletic Club, and No.3-rated Kristin Heaston of Opelika, Ala., who is unattached but with Nike backing.

Most of the 17 other entries are representing colleges or competing unattached.

Blewitt, who trains in Tucson, Ariz., was scheduled to leave for the trials Tuesday.

She will enter the competition with her best 2008 throw of 17.2 meters or 56.4 feet. Camarena has the longest throw of all 20 entries with 18.81 meters or 61.7 feet.

Blewitt said she is feeling better and stronger than she has in a long time, and is ready to peak just at the right moment in her training regimen for the U.S. trials.

“I am confident I can make it into the finals. I am confident that I can be in the top three [who make the team],” said Blewitt, who is ready to try for her longest throw of the year, perhaps of her career.

Gorski said that Blewitt’s longest throw ever is 60 feet, 1‚Ñ4-inch, which she did in 2003 “with cancer but before being diagnosed with the disease.”

Blewitt is ready to apply her training

“I have visualized it and trained hard and worked hard. I am ready,” she said.

kovach@vindy.com