Jordan Geist put on a show Saturday at Edinboro (Photo by Phil Grove)
There was no getting around it. To
keep climbing the U.S. all-time indoor list in the shot put, Jordan Geist had
to throw 70 feet.
Or did he?
Having fallen short of the historic barrier by just a half-inch a week ago, the junior leapfrogged over 70 feet and a handful of the event's all-time greats Saturday in the Tri-State Coaches meet at Edinboro University. Geist's third-round heave of 71 feet, 2.5 inches catapulted him into the No. 5 slot nationally as he became just the third Pennsylvania prep ever to top 70 indoors or out.
"It's definitely a huge monkey off my back," the Knoch standout said. "It's been a huge goal ever since Penn Relays last year. Just glad I finally got it today."
Geist's opening throw looked effortless, but it traveled 68-2, a distance that only 10 high school shot putters had reached indoors prior to 2016. He pushed the day's best to 69-1 in round 2 before hitting his new PR as the second flight ground to a halt for steel tape re-measurements of the historic throw.
"That was the point really, for it to feel easy and look easy," Geist said. "I put a little bit more on it than I usually do for my opening throw. It went really far for my first throw.
"I knew I was going to throw big after I threw 69 feet as my second throw. Going into it, I felt really good today. I was just able to get a really good finish on it, real linear finish as opposed to the first two throws."
Geist was all smiles (for a little bit, at least) after going over 70 feet (Photo by Phil Grove)
The odds of a 70-footer occurring inside the Mike S. Zafirovski Sports and Recreation Center appeared to be extremely good as Geist's coaches and family were confident before the competition that the hurdle finally would be cleared.
"It's just such a big relief that he finally hit it," said Judy Geist, Jordan's mom and throws coach at Knoch. "He's been working so hard, and it's been there. I was talking to (event judge) Jim Stevenson earlier. I told you he's not throwing 69-11.5 today.
"And I told (Jordan) you don't want to throw 70 feet even. You want to get a big one, and he did. He's been thinking about it all week, worked hard all week and it showed how well he did."
Although he was not able to improve in the finals, Geist did finish one of the event's greatest series on a strong note, with an indication of even longer throws in the future. Round 4 sailed 68-9.5, while his final two throws were 70-plus efforts, reaching 70-2 and 70-11. All told, Geist averaged over 69-8.5 on a full set of trips to the ring.
Geist went over 70 three times on Saturday; something no other PA prep has ever done once indoors (Photo by Phil Grove)
"He's very easy to read because he is so consistent in his work ethic," said Mike Hambrick, Jordan's club coach. "We stay in contact with each other and just watching him throw on Thursday and last week, I knew that it was going to happen. We held back on that until now because it wasn't time earlier in the year. As the training progresses, everything he is doing lifting and throwing wise dictated that he was going big today."
Pennsylvania's 70-foot club grew for the first time in more than a decade. Baldwin's Ron Semkiw was the first to reach the distance, throwing a PA outdoor record 70-1.75 at the WPIAL championships on May 18, 1972, while former Central Dauphin star Ryan Whiting hit 70 even at the 2005 PIAA meet at Shippensburg.
"I was hoping to at least hit 70 today," Geist concluded. "Seventy-one is definitely special, especially doing it in Pennsylvania."
