Different personalities. Different styles. Same work ethic: Jason Coon and Evan Arnott.

It wasn’t so long ago that they were both so unalike.  They had different personalities.  They had different friends.  And they were different throwers.

Photos by Patty Morgan and Marleen Van den Neste  

But for as much that separated them as people and athletes, there were so many things pulling the tandem together.

Their willingness to work.  Their persistence through failure.  And their faith in each other.

Jason Coon and Evan Arnott come from different backgrounds, but the Schuylkill Valley pair are more alike than most realize.  It only took a junior track & field season for most around the region to take notice.

This winter, the pair further cemented their connection, becoming the No. 1 and 2 shot putters in the state. The 6-foot, 240-pound Coon currently holds the PA#1 mark in the shot put with a heave of 58 feet, 10.25 inches.  The 6-foot-2, 205-pound Arnott, meanwhile, stands in second with a mark of 57-11.25.

Winning a team AA state championship last spring with Schuylkill Valley was a nice first step, but now both Coon and Arnott are looking to notch personal hardware and further validate their talent this winter season.

“I don't want to sound cocky,“ Coon said, “but to win indoor states, that's the only goal I’m shooting for.”

Each still has a lot to prove, at least in their own eyes.

And the best part?

Success will be earned together.  Where one goes, the other will follow.

Because they are now roommates, bonded by what sets them apart and what makes them so similar.

Six days per week, they train together just a few minutes from Coon’s house.  A familiar face leads the tandem through a gauntlet of exercises.

It’s almost fitting that former Schuylkill Valley state champion Dane Miller,  a collegiate standout thrower at Penn State University who also competed professionally,  is the man in charge of their fate.

“The thing is, they're training five-to-six days a week, two-plus hours a day,” said Miller, who leads their training at the Berks-county based facility Garage Strength.  “They're no joke.  They train really hard.  They're really coachable.  And they lift.  They can be a pain in the ass here and there, but for the most part they want to get better.

“They want to throw as far as they can potentially throw.”

* * *

All good things come in pairs, and the state-leading heaves were no exception. Both Coon and Arnott pulled out their best attempts at the William H. Emrey Christmas City Relays in Bethlehem in December.

It was their final two throws of the day, one after the other.

Arnott planted his feet, swung his torso rapidly and flung his personal record attempt just seconds before Coon.  As it landed, a roar of applause engulfed the stands in Bethlehem.  As it was happening, Coon plunked his fingers into his ears, trying to eliminate any sort of bias in his preparation.
 

Photo by Patty Morgan

“I heard the crowd, especially Evans's dad, scream wildly,” Coon said of Arnott’s final attempt.  “I knew it was big.  I didn't know how far it was because I didn’t listen to the distance.  I put my fingers in my ears before he threw it. But it was so loud when the shot hit the ground, I heard this giant scream.”

Coon didn’t let the attempt faze him, though, and without warning uncorked the state leading throw just seconds later.  As a glider, he let his lower body build the framework while his upper body unleashed the fury.  It was an almost perfect throw,  landing just a few inches ahead of Arnott’s leading attempt.

“I looked over and Jason unleashed it,“ Arnott said. “That throw looked perfect.”

Neither attempt was too surprising, however, considering both athletes were improving at consistent rates through the winter season.

Coon had seen steady growth in the shot put since the state meet last May, when he finished disappointingly out of medal contention. It was an unlikely turn, considering Coon had claimed a PIAA Class AA District 3 Championship just seven days prior with a throw of 52-4.25. A mark that would have medaled at the state meet.

Since that time, however, Coon’s marks have grown and steadily climbed in the upper 50-feet range. He has claimed nine throws over 55 feet, 8 inches since July, including a throw of 57-8.5 at the 2012 USATF National Junior Olympic Track & Field Championships and a heave of 55-11 at the AAU National Junior Olympics Championships.
 

   Photo by Marleen Van den Neste   

Arnott, meanwhile, has had similar turns in success, logging throws of over 55-6 five times since November. Plus, he’s also claimed impressive heaves in the discus, where he recorded a team-important second-place performance In May with a mark of 168-8.

Ideally,  Arnott said, the discuss would be where he would capture the most success. He aims for a throw in the 190s by the spring, he said, and hopes that everything adds up.

But none of this would have been possible without hard work. Truth be told, Miller said, Coon and Arnott weren’t the quickest  of learners.

It took Arnott nearly six months to figure out the spin, Miller said, while it took nearly a year for Coon to master the glide.

So success found a different alley. Hard work was central to each of their eventual successes.  

* * *

Arnott moved into the Coon household this summer before the school year. His parents separated and moved away, but he was against the idea of displacement, so he worked out a deal where he could stay with the Coon’s, who lived nearby.

“He was going to have to leave school and go to a different school,“ Jason’s mother, Diana, said. “He didn't want to do that, so he lives with us.”

“The nice thing being athletes at their level is that they're very self disciplined,” she added.

Neither Arnott or Coon were the best of friends before their junior seasons, but with similar habits and mentalities in the sport they both loved, there was equal footing. That was the tipping point.

The adjustment was a bit unconventional at first.  Arnott did his own laundry and cooked his own food, but over time he began to find his place.

Photo courtesy of Jason Arnott

“He's basically my brother now,” Arnott said of Coon. “It’s another way to put it.”

Initially, personality was where the differences shined through.  Arnott was gregarious and outgoing while Coon was reserved and quiet.

At first, the pair didn’t really connect -- at least outside the gym‘s walls.  

“For the most part, they're different,” Miller said. “Evan is a bit more outgoing.  When he first came into the gym, he wouldn’t shut up.  I would have to tell him to pipe down. Coon has always been more quiet.  When Coon first started training, he wouldn't even talk.  We'd go two hours and he wouldn't say anything.  It took him two years to come out of his shell.”

But over time those gym sessions were helpful.  While they taught technique and skills, they also housed the bond between Coon and Arnott.

“Our relationship developed in the last year,“ Coon said of Arnott. “Before we were sophomores, he was just a kid I knew that I would work out with. But we built up a friendship. Over the course of our junior years, we hung out more and got to know each other.”

* * *

Before any of that occurred, the pair needed to learn how to throw.

When Coon and Arnott began attending Miller’s gym as freshmen, he added, neither had a clue as to how to throw properly.

“They were so bad,“ Miller said. “It was like...it was awful.”

“I was sitting there for a year and a half and I was wondering if they were ever going to be good,“ Miller continued. “They are both explosive, they have good muscle tone, but neither are very athletic.  And they both know that.”

“But the thing is,” Miller said, shifting his tone, “nobody works harder.  I will take Jason and Evan over anyone any day of the week because no one will out work either of them.”

It took varying times for Coon and Arnott to learn their preferred techniques -- Coon is a glider, for instance, while Arnott is a spinner -- but once they perfected their movements, things fell into place.

As a sophomore, Coon uncorked an indoor season best of 42-6 at the Maroon and Gold Invitational at Kutztown University.  A little more than a year later, he had added 12 feet to his marks.

Arnott, meanwhile, had gone from a spring season best of 38-11.25 in 2011 to a throw of 51-3 as a junior at the 83rd Annual John H. Shaner Memorial Track Meet.

“When they were younger as freshman, the first time they came in, I sat them down and said,  ‘Listen, I don’t know if you believe me, but I want to train you both to become champions.  That's the end goal.’ Everything else, life lessons, that's great, but I wanted them to be state champions.

“I think they both wanted that too, but I don't know if they started to believe it until the end of their sophomore year.  And then , they really believed.”

* * *

Miller truly believes both Arnott and Coon have limitless potential.

He sees both wanting to break the 60-foot barrier by the end of the winter season, and challenging each other for medals at the state championships next May in Shippensburg.

Coon is adamant that he would like to challenge for a state indoor title in the shot put, while Arnott is content with competing for top honors in the discus.

If all goes according to plan, Miller thinks both Coon and Arnott will find themselves in those situations.

But as track & field has taught each athlete, nothing is guaranteed.

Hard work will only do so much.

When it comes down to finding yourself in those small moments in the pit, the final product needs to come from within.

“I really do think they'll both throw farther and I want them to,“ Miller said. “I think that'd be sweet. But they know this state is stacked, so they’ll have their work cut out for them.