By Steve Underwood

As we get current on the new DyeStat.com, we catch up on the 2013 indoor season to date, with New Balance Indoor Nationals looming ahead next weekend.  Second in this series is the boys and girls throws.


Boys Throws

Shot: Brahame is supreme

From 2009 through 2011, there was a three-year stretch where fans enjoyed watching multiple 70-footers battling for national titles.  It was an amazing run that saw much of the all-time top-10 lists rewritten, both indoors and out, as Nick Vena, Mason Finley, Stephen Saenz, Hayden Baillio, Ryan Crouser and others set and threatened both class and overall national records.

But the event has settled back just a bit and in 2012, there’s just one 70-footer, and that’s Bridgeton (N.J.) senior Brahame Days, Jr.  He is the defending New Balance Nationals Indoor champ with his US#1 70-8 throw last year, good for #7 all-time and just a few inches off the meet record.  This winter, although his best is “just” 69-0, the UCLA signee has had seven meets at 66-9 or better and is more than four feet ahead of the rest of the country.  Although injuries limited Days to 68-8.5 last spring, he has a good resume outdoors, too, which includes a bronze medal for Team USA at the 2011 World Youth Champs.

Weight: Quiet start

It’s been an eventful last two years for Averill Park (N.Y.) senior Rudy Winkler, who led the nation in both the weight throw and hammer in 2012.  In 2011, Winkler qualified on Team USA for the IAAF World Youth Champs in France, where he placed ninth, then last year earned a ticket to the World Juniors in Barcelona, where he placed 11th.  Is that part of the reason he’s so limited his competitions in 2013 so far?

Winkler has only competed once with the 25-lb. HS weight this winter, but it was a good one.  He nailed a US#1 79-6.25 at the Armory Collegiate, defeating a good field of New York and Rhode Island throwers.  He’s also thrown 61-0.75 with the senior 35-lb. weight.  Last winter, Winkler won NBNI with a best of 80-11.75, a US#1 and #8 all-time.

Also making waves

• Josh Whitener – The North Paulding (Dallas, Ga.) senior has been the best of the Throw 1 Deep pack this year, sporting a US#2 79-2.75 best outdoors.  Indoors, he has hit 76-5 twice, including a big win at Simplot. 
• Charlie Ionata – Rhode Island produces weight and hammer stars every year and in 2013, this Barrington senior has been leading the way.  Just 10th at NBNI last year with a 62-footer, he has been improving all winter long and is now at US#3 78-8.75.
• Dylan Dyke – One of the top returnees in the shot both indoors and out, this Waverly (Ohio) senior had a big breakthrough in January with a US#2 64-0 throw.  He has also progressed in the weight throw to a US#6 71-11.5.

Looking ahead to NBNI
The weight throw should be super competitive, with all the stars on hand.  Winkler will have to be at his very best to hold on to his title, with Whitener and Ionata leading the challengers.  This should be one of the best field events of the meet. 

On the other hand, few athletes in New York will be a heavier favorite to win than Days in the shot.  If he even comes close to his winning mark from last year, he’s got it in the bag.  Dyke leads the chase pack, so to speak, and beyond that it should be very competitive with 10 other entered with 59- to 61-foot bests. 


Girls Throws

Shot: California rules
There had been just a single girl beyond 46 feet nationally this winter before the deep group of California standouts got rolling in mid-February.  At the Simplot Games, Dos Pueblos (Goleta) junior Stamatia Scarvelis unleashed a 49-6 to take the national lead.  Two days later at the Golden State’s indoor bonanza in Fresno, La Sierra (Riverside) senior Tanya Sapp topped Alemany (Mission Hills) soph sensation Nia Britt, 48-3.75 to 48-0.

Now there have been eight girls at 46 or better, but expect the Californians to have a big year in 2013 all the way through.  Scarvelis and Britt are also the #2-3 national returnees outdoors, with #1 returnee Ashlie Blake just across the border in Nevada.

Weight: Searching for 60
Weight throw fans have been spoiled a little bit the last few years with Throw 1 Deep’s Shelby Ashe setting national records at the 2010 and 2011 NBNI meets with throws in the mid-high 60s, and Avana Story following at 63-1.5 last year.  No one’s hit 60 feet yet this year, but Throw1Deep senior Casidy Callahan (Norcross, Ga. HS, 59-11.75) and super soph Sabrina Gaitan (Sprayberry HS, Marietta, Ga., 59-04.75) are closing in.  Callahan won the weight at Simplot with 55-11.5.  Austintown Fitch (Youngstown, Ohio) junior Gabby Figueroa also threw 58-11 in January.

Also making waves

• Adriana Brown – The Lawrence Central (Indianapolis) junior wasn’t yet a 40-footer in the shot put before February, but has since won the Kentucky Invite at 44-3.75, then just this week in Bloomington exploded to US#2 48-8.5.  She was one of Indiana’s top discus throwers in 2012 with a 144-2.
• Antonella Taylor – The Bowie (Md.) senior was the top national shot returnee indoors coming into 2013 at 46-11 and started well in December at 46-4.25, which led the nation for nearly two months.  Since, however, she has struggled to get back over 45.
• Marthaline Cooper – From the school that produced former weight throw USR-holder Victoria Flowers, this Classical (Providence, R.I.) senior is up to a US#4 56-0 and could challenge the T1D stars in New York.

Looking ahead to NBNI
In the shot, the Californians appear to be staying home, so Taylor and several other 44- to 45-foot types are likely to battle.  But also watch out for indoor neophyte Maggie Ewen, the St. Francis (Minn.) senior who not only threw 48-6 oudoors last year, but was US#2 (top returnee) in the discus at 172-7.  The weight throw battle should come down to Callahan, Figueroa, and Cooper (Gaitan is not entered).

2013 Quick Top 20s (plus ties)
For full DyeStat TFX Elite lists, go HERE
(USR in parentheses)

Boys SP (77-02.75)
69-00.00 Braheme Days Jr NJ 2013
64-06.50 Jaja Davis VA 2013
64-00.00 Dylan Dyke OH 2013
61-10.00 Jon Beyle NC 2013
61-08.00 Andrew Trumbetti NJ 2014
60-04.75 Devon Patterson NY 2014
60-01.25 Andrew Vollet KY 2013
59-09.00 Kofi Yamoah NJ 2013
59-08.00 Anthony Taylor LA 2013
59-08.00 Luke Lewis PA 2014
---
59-07.75 Jason Coon PA 2013
59-06.25 Brendan Duncan IL 2013
59-05.50 Eric Beckwith MA 2012
59-05.00 Chris Cook NJ 2013
59-04.00 Mark Ramsey NJ 2013
59-04.00 John Maurins OH 2014
59-03.00 Will Pope NY 2013
59-02.25 Rashad Manning MD 2015
59-01.25 Spencer Ross NJ 2014
59-01.00 Benjamin Bonhurst NY 2014
(20)

Boys WT (93-03.25)
(i=indoor throw, o=outdoor throw)
79-06.75i Rudy Winkler NY 2013
79-02.75o Josh Whitener GA 2013
78-08.75i Charlie Ionata RI 2013
75-02.50o Daniel Haugh GA 2013
73-01.50i Carlos Magnum RI 2013
71-11.50i Dylan Duke OH 2013
71-11.00i Aaron Zedella OH 2013
71-06.00i Adam Kelly RI 2015
69-04.25o Kyle Johnson GA 2013
69-02.00i Christopher Pensa NY 2013
---
68-10.50i Lovell Peterson OH 2013
68-10.00o Chase Carroll GA 2013
68-09.25o Kenneth Brinson GA 2015
68-09.00o Jordan Pickerel GA 2013
68-01.25i Mahlik Handley RI 2013
67-08.00i Billy Price OH 2013
67-04.25o Brooks Hardy GA 2013
67-00.75i Nikolas Huffman VA 2013
66-09.00i Max Lydum OH 2015
66-01.00i Cullen Prena MI 2013
(20)

Girls SP (54-09.50)
49-06.00 Stamatia Scarvelis CA 2014
48-08.50 Adriana Brown IN 2014
48-03.75 Tanya Sapa CA 2013
48-00.00 Nia Britt CA 2015
46-10.25 Katelyn Daniels OH 2013
46-07.50 Banke Oginni IL 2014
46-04.25 Antonella Taylor MD 2013
46-00.00 Nikki Okwelgo CA 2013
45-02.50 Casidy Callahan GA 2013
45-02.25 Briyah Brown NY 2013
---
45-02.00 Josephine Jackson MI 2013
44-07.00 Bre'anna Warren NC 2013
44-01.25 Mariah Walker CO 2014
44-00.25 Lena Giger IL 2014
43-11.00 Tamara Overjera MD 2013
43-10.75 Haley Teel TX 2014
43-09.75 Demara Compton IN 2014
43-07.75 Alyssa Robinson OH 2013
43-07.25 Meia Gordon TX 2015
43-07.00 Demara Compton IN 2014
(20)

Girls WT (68-02.50)
(i=indoor throw, o=outdoor throw)
59-11.75o Casidy Callahan GA 2013
59-04.75o Sabrina Gaitan GA 2014
58-11.00i Gabby Figueroa OH 2014
56-00.00i Marthaline Cooper RI 2013
54-04.75i Kelli Thomas GA 2014
54-01.75o Jenessa Jackson GA 2013
54-00.00o Nyla Woods GA 2014
53-00.00i Briyah Brown NY 2013
52-08.50o Melanie Raterman MO 2013
52-06.75i Madeline Middlebrooks MO 2013
---
52-06.75i Leia Mistowski RI 2014
52-03.25i Alva Hicks RI 2015
51-09.00i Erica King OH 2013
51-08.50i Becca Leppelmeier OH 2013
51-08.00i Tanya Sapa CA 2013
51-00.25i Andrea Vahoua GA 2014
49-07.00o Kamryn Brinson GA 2016
49-01.50i Victoria Ebert RI 2014
49-00.75o Josie Hardin GA 2013
48-11.75i Leah Colbert MO 2014
(20)