By Brad Frank
Reporter
It’s only a matter of time before freshman Brooke McCombs is one of the best throwers in the Mid-American Conference.
McCombs realizes that right now she isn’t one of the best among her competition in college like she was in high school. But she understands that with continued hard work and by maintaining her positive approach, it’s almost a certainty that she’ll rank among the best of her competition once again.
In high school, in addition to being a two-time district champion in discus, McCombs was also a sprinter on a state-qualifying 4×100-meter relay team.
She mentioned the irony of how throwers aren’t usually sprinters too, but her success as part of that relay team for three years demonstrates not only her versatility but also her knack for success as a track and field athlete.
As a freshman in college, McCombs said her new teammates played a huge part in making her more comfortable in her role as a student-athlete.
She said how the team was supportive of her while transitioning from high school to college and has been supportive of her as an athlete in her attempt to dominate in college like she did in high school.
On top of dealing with the usual angst between finishing high school and starting college, McCombs was asked to add two throwing events to her repertoire, the weight throw for the indoor season and the hammer throw for the outdoor season.
She said learning the turns in both the weight and hammer throws was the biggest challenge after throwing shot put discus her entire track and field career.
McCombs began training as soon as this academic year began but had to wait to compete until the start of the indoor season in January.
“That was five months of training without getting to compete and show what I had been working so hard for; so that was a bit of a difficulty I had,” McCombs said. “Once I started competing, I was performing to the same level I did in high school, which was fine at first, but I wanted to prove that I had gotten better in the five months that I had been training at the collegiate level.”
McCombs had already shown signs of improvement by the team’s fourth meet of the indoor season when she threw a personal-record in the shot put of 42-feet, 3-inches.
McCombs said she wants to continue to improve in all three of her throwing events — she also throws the hammer — and place well at the MAC Championships in May.
“I would like to do well at the MAC Championships and keep getting personal bests throughout the season and not just stay at one place,” McCombs said. “I would like to move forward.”
Beyond the support her teammates show her, McCombs said there is just as much support from the coaching staff, which she believes will push her to her eventually at some point in her career.
“Our coaches are awesome,” she said. “They’re really supportive, and they make us stay positive no matter what.
“You’re going to have your bad practice days and bad meets, but they’re there to remind you that you are working hard, and they’re pushing us every day to do better. It really helps to know they’re behind us 100 percent.”
In particular, McCombs said BG assistant coach Justin Carvalho, her throwing coach, has helped her realize her potential and aided in providing motivation to reach her potential at some point in her track and field career.
“Coach always tells me what he thinks I can reach my senior year,” McCombs said. “That keeps me looking toward the future and how good I want to get, knowing they can push me to that level.”
McCombs has another month and a half to gauge her improvement from the start of the track and field season until its end. She and the Falcons will compete on Saturday at the Jack Shaw Invite in Kalamazoo, Mich.
