Sports
Hammering up a storm
Landerholm assaults record book
By Doug Levy
Of th# Emerald
Track meets at Oregon are
always a hot item. Everybody,
it seems, knows about the
Alberto Salazars and the Dean
Crousers. Fans turn out in
droves to watch them.
And while people flock to
the stands to watch the events
at Hayward Field, a few guys
adjacent to the track swinging
a ball around their heads and
unleashing it toward 18th
Street go practically unnotic
ed every week.
One of those guys is Kent
Landerholm, the Oregon
school record-holder in the
hammer with a toss of 221-7.
Not many people trek to the
hammer circle to watch
Landerholm, but maybe they
should.
“It would be nice to have
people watching me — I sup
pose everyone likes atten
Landerholm log
SEASON
BEST
158-0
192-0
191-0
199-0
221-7
1979
1980
1981
1982
1983
tion," says Landerholm, a
22-year-old senior for the
Ducks. “The few times the
hammer (competition) is out in
the middle of the track, I get
really excited about having
people watch me.
“But if I really wanted atten
tion, I wouldn’t be throwing
the hammer,” he adds.
Indeed, the hammer has
never been one of the glamour
events in track, although “a lot
more guys are throwing it
now,” says Landerholm.
The hammer was certainly
not on Landerholm's mind
when he came to Oregon.
“I came here as a discus
thrower, and I came in with
Dean,” recalls Landerholm. “It
became obvious that Dean
would be the discus thrower,
so Frank Morris (Oregon State
coach and then an assistant at
Oregon) came up to me and
asked me to throw the ham
mer. I’d never done it, but I’m
naturally built for it and it
came really quick."
Still, Landerholm wonaers
about what could’ve been. He
also starred in football and
basketball at Columbia River
High School in Washington,
was recruited for football by
several colleges, and played
basketball constantly.
"Basketball, that was my
favorite,” he says. “I used to
play seven or eight hours a
day. Me and my friends would
get up, play basketball, eat,
and play more basketball.
“But l was just too damn
short.” Landerholm is 6-2 and
235 solid pounds. “It’s too bad
— everyone else in my family
is tall, I’m kind of bummed out
about being short.”
So, being “short”,
Landerholm accepted the
hammer. And he improved
quickly. He threw 158-0 while
redshirting his first year, and
then zoomed to 192-0 his
freshman year. He also made a
big change in technique,
throwing off of three turns in
stead of two.
“Most two turn throwers,
like John McArdle (ex-Oregon
record-holder in the hammer),
are huge, and three turn
throwers tend to rely more on
quickness and speed. Those
are my strengths,” says
Landerholm.
Landerholm leveled off at
191-0 his sophomore year,
then finished fourth in the
Pac-10 with a 188-0 throw.
Then, before his junior year,
injuries struck. Landerholm
had every injury problem
unuer me sun — aniue pro
blems, torn muscles, injured
tendons, back problems and
the biggie, shoulder problems.
"I fell behind technically,
but mentally is where I really
lost it,” says Landerholm
about the flurry of injuries. “I
started being afraid of being
hurt. I never used to admit
that, but I was, and I never had
been before — I’d never even
been injured before.”
Attempting to deal with his
injuries, Landerholm again
failed to improve much his
junior year, although he did
throw 201-0 the summer after
that season.
It was afte' his junior year
that Landerholm made the
decision which he claims led
to his emergence as a premier
thrower.
“I got some money from my
parents, took some that I had,
and went to Europe,” says
Landerholm. “I hoofed it
everywhere and had a great
time, but I also worked on my
throwing. I’d decided that I
either needed to improve or
pitch up the tent.”
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He spent three weeks in
Norway and two more in
Scotland, where he met United
States Olympic Committee
hammer coach Stewart
Togher. Togher, says
Landerholm, was the kind of
meticulous coach he needed
to help him improve.
“He watched everything I
did,” says Landerholm. “And
he had me keep a diary of my
progress. When I got home, I
took a few weeks off, and I
knew exactly what I needed to
do.”
"I want to win the Pac-10
pretty bad,” says Landerholm.
"It'll be between me and Tore,
and I think it’ll take 230.”
Cash
For Textbooks
Mon.- Frl.
Smith Family
Bookstore
768 E. 13th
1 Bl. From Campus
345-1651
EMU Cultural Forum Presents the
Wil lamette
Valley
Folk
Festival
May 20,21,22
"A celebration of musical heritage. "
Featuring:
Mary McCaslin Jim Ringer, Friday
Obo Addy 6C Kukrudu, Saturday
Sandy Bradley &
The Small Wonder String Band, Sunday
To be held on the east lawn of the EMU
from noon until night.
All events in the Ballroom in the event of rain.
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