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Wiltrout finishes 5th in national junior championship

By Jim Downey jdowney@heraldstandard.Com 3 min read
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Madison Wiltrout, a senior at Connellsville High School, loosens up with her javelin at the Mount Pleasant High School track on June 21.

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Kelly Tunney | Herald-Standard

Madison Wiltrout, a senior at Connellsville High School, runs through a few practice throws recently at the Mount Pleasant High School throwing field.

This is the next installment in a continuing series of articles over the next year where we follow the progress of our local Olympic hopefuls.

Madison Wiltrout was pleased with her throws, including her top effort of 152 feet, and fifth-place finish Friday night in the USATF Junior Outdoor Championships in Clovis, California.

As it turns out, those will be the final throws and last competition of the summer for Wiltrout, who opted out of next week’s Olympic trials because of muscle soreness in her throwing arm.

“The muscle in my (throwing) arm got tight (last week at the New Balance High School Outdoor Nationals). I pulled down on the javelin too quick,” explained Wiltrout, who finished second. “It has nothing to do with the ligament. It was me wanting to win so bad.”

Wiltrout said her future wasn’t worth the risk of throwing with the inflamed muscle at the Olympic Trials on July 7 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.

“Obviously, it’s sore. I don’t want to risk anything. I’ll miss it a little bit. I would’ve loved to see everything, go out there and walk around, see what’s going on,” said Wiltrout. “But, I have bigger things I want to do.”

Additionally, should Wiltrout have placed in the trials and hit the Olympic standard, she was too young (by a few weeks) to make the track & field team, anyway.

Wiltrout is pleased she exited the season with a good group of six throws. 

She opened with a throw of 40.94 meters (134-3¾) and then improved to 44.51 meters (146-0). Her final throw of the preliminaries was 44.51 meters, so she had a consistent opening round.

Wiltrout’s first throw of the finals was similar to that of the prelims, 40.40 meters (132-6). She followed with her worst throw of the competition, 39.76 meters (130-5¼), but closed with her best throw, 46.32 meters.

“I made a lot of good throws,” said Wiltrout, who was pleased with her consistency.

“This one is definitely a bit different. It’s a higher standard. There were college girls throwing. To me, it was a lot more fun,” added Wiltrout.

Katelyn Gochenour finished first with a throw of 49.94 meters (163-10) and Emma Fitzgerald was second with a top effort of 48.77 meters (160-0). Those two young women will represent the United States in the U-20 World Championships in Poland.

The western states are in the throes of a heat wave and the temperature in Clovis, situated about seven miles from Fresno, was 103 degrees.

“It was only 103 degrees,” Wiltrout said with a laugh. “I was afraid my javelin might melt in the air.”

Wiltrout has thrown in a lot of weather conditions, from cold, snowy afternoons to hard rains to the muggy heat of western Pennsylvania, but never in 100 degree temperatures.

“They had a tent, so that helped, and I drank a lot of water,” said Wiltrout. “The javelin was a little later (in the afternoon). They moved everything back because of the heat.”

Wiltrout was impressed with Veterans Memorial Stadium, the host facilities of the national junior championship.

“It’s beautiful here. They had a different warm up area, a 6-lane track. There were sprinters and other athletes warming up,” said Wiltrout. 

So, instead of a trip to Oregon (for the Olympic trials) or possibly Poland (for the U-20 World Championships), Wiltrout will be vacationing, making college visits and taking anti-inflammatory medication and icing down her sore arm.

“I’ll continue working out and doing something to strengthen my arm. It’ll be a vacation-filled summer,” said Wiltrout.

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