The Details: Breakthrough Carries Clauson To Nationals
June 10, 2015 | General, Track & Field
By Mason Kelley
GoHuskies.com
To find success in track and field, athletes work to hit the next mark. Once they reach that goal, there is always a faster time or a longer throw, a new goal waiting to be conquered.
For Curtis Clauson, his college career has been built around trying to break through to what he calls the next “platform.”
“You end up hitting a big platform and then you're underneath that thing by about five feet for a while and you get stuck on something new,” the junior from King's High School said. “Then you've got to break through and you have another PR.”
Clauson has been reaching for the next platform since he was a child watching his sister, Danielle, throw the javelin. The event caught his attention in fifth grade and he has been working ever since to earn a trip to NCAA Outdoor Nationals.
His junior year in high school, the three-time state champion threw the javelin 212 feet, 9 ½ inches. Even then he was looking toward the future.
“All I have to do is improve another 15 feet and I'm there,” Clauson thought to himself, looking at a mark that would earn him a trip to Eugene, Ore. for the outdoor nationals once he got to college.
What he thought would take a year or two has taken longer than expected.
“It's been a process,” he said.
Clauson has been reaching for the next platform since he was a child watching his sister, Danielle, throw the javelin. The event caught his attention in fifth grade and he has been working ever since to earn a trip to NCAA Outdoor Nationals.
As a freshman, he threw a season-best 218-6 and earned a trip to the NCAA West Prelim Championships. It was progress, but then as a sophomore he suffered an elbow injury that forced him to redshirt.
Like anyone who suffers an extensive injury, there were moments when Clauson wondered what would come next. He asked himself if he should shift his focus more toward school than track, wondering if there was something else he should be doing with his time.
Then he realized how just much time and how many years he had already invested in the sport.
“I've got a passion for it,” he said.
Realizing how much he wanted to get back to the game was all the motivation he needed to finish his rehab.
“It makes you drive to be better and, when you come back off an injury, you normally do all the little things right that whole offseason of training,” he said. “It's really refocused me.”
He spent last year working toward regaining his form with the expectation that the hard work would pay off this season.
It has.
The season started slow, but Clauson hit his stride and broke through to the next platform when he – and his team – needed it most.
“The first couple meets, especially in such a technical event like javelin, you've got to learn as you go, learn along the way, always think about improving and that it's coming,” Clauson said.
Washington has been able to develop standouts in the javelin recently, from Kyle Nielsen, who set the school record, to Joe Zimmerman and Jimmy Brookman. Then Clauson and Quinn Hale – he finished fifth at NCAAs last season – joined the program with Carson Fuller coming in a year later.
Among all these talented throwers, Clauson was the one javelin standout still looking for his first trip to outdoor nationals.
With Hale and Fuller returning to the team this year, it looked like there would be plenty of competition to push Clauson throughout the season. Then Hale and Fuller suffered injuries. Clauson became the program's best chance to advance to nationals in the javelin.
“You hate to see your teammates go down, but we are such a tight-knit group that, once someone goes down, we realize someone else has to step up,” he said. “It's my time.”
Looking for his first PR since his freshman year, Clauson threw 225-3 at the Pac-12 meet to take third place. Then at the NCAA West Preliminary Championship last week, he shattered his PR a second time, hitting 238-8.
Clauson's path to nationals hasn't gone the way he expected but, now that he has earned the opportunity, he plans to make the most of it.
“I finally broke that next level,” he said.
He finally earned a trip to outdoor nationals.
Standing on Washington's purple track before practice last week, Clauson leaned up against a chain-link fence and talked about his success. For someone competing in the javelin, he isn't the biggest guy, but he doesn't let that hold him back.
“I'm not the biggest guy, but I'm sure as heck not the weakest out there,” he said. “Just because I don't have size doesn't mean I don't have strength.”
His high school coach taught him that with the right foot speed, power and technique, he could more than make up for anything he lacked in size.
“All your power is going to happen from the ground traveling upward into the throw,” he said. “Generating that foot speed and hitting it the right way technique-wise is definitely a big help.”
Clauson's path to nationals hasn't gone the way he expected but, now that he has earned the opportunity, he plans to make the most of it.
“Being here now is just a huge blessing,” he said. “It's an eye-opener and a good experience. Hopefully I can capitalize on it. I've been to Eugene many times before. I'm just going to treat it like any other meet in Eugene and hope for the best.”
