sports
The Scot behind Oregon’s field generals
Tosher helps Duck throwers set marks
Emerald file photo
Oregon assistant coach Stewart Togher (far left) has been the
main catalyst behind the rise of field men Greg Aitkenhead
(center) and Ken Flax.
qualifying sianaara.
“Really, the basic one (goal) is to improve,’’
Togher says. “Every coach likes to think he has a
system which he can apply to any athlete and get
some improvement. That is his security, if you
like.”
While Togher’s philosophy may seem fairly
secure, the main reason for the success of the
Oregon weightmen this season has been Togher’s
somewhat strange influence on their training.
'The skill is actually throwing
and making the body throw
whether it is throwing shot puts
or medicine balls or dumbbells ’
— Stewart Togher
He says that he has never met anyone who
does what he does with training. He believes
there may be similar types of programs in Europe,
and they may be in the United States now, but he
hasn’t found anyone doing it.
“I throw many objects so that the skills are
not too specific,” explains the Scot, who was
once a national 180-pound weightlifting cham
pion. “The skill is actually throwing and making
the body throw whether its throwing shot puts or
medicine balls or dumbbells. What you are really
doing is working all sides of the implement so
your base of throwing is broader than it would be
with just one instrument.”
The one instrument that is Togher’s specialty
is the hammer where he finished third in the
Scottish championships while in his 30s, and it
has been his ticket to the top.
In 1980, Togher worked as part of the U.S.
Olympic development program with American
hammer throwers. Soon after that, he was touring
the country and instructing the likes of John
McArdle and Andy Bessette. Giving a clinic, he
and Ken Flax met.
"I was fortunate to get under him from the
beginning of my career,” Flax says. “It’s not
often that people have a coach that is a good
friend, but he is someone that I always look up to.
He’s a character, and I think we have a really
good working relationship.”
The best part about the Flax-Togher realtion
ship is that it is working — so well, that Flax has
moved from a seventh-place finish last year in the
NCAA’s to being heralded as one of the top col
legiate hammer throwers in the country this year.
Flax says that he doesn’t really have specific
goals but looks at steps instead. Last year, one of
his steps was to win the Pacific-10 Conference
hammer championship. Flax did that and became
Oregon’s first Pac-10 hammer titlist.
This year, he has his sights set a little higher
with more emphasis on the NCAA’s. Flax also
wants to do well in the TAC Meet, which is the
Athletic Congress Championship held later this
year.
Continued on Page 9
By Allan Lazo
Of the Emerald
Not until Dub Myers broke in
to the elite fraternity two weeks
ago had a runner qualified for
the NCAA meet; meanwhile,
three of the first four Oregon
qualifiers had come out of the
Ducks’ field people, but don’t
call it luck — unless of course
you want to call it the luck of
the “Scottish.”
Last spring, the Oregon men’s
track-and-field team brought in
Stewart Togher, from Edin
burgh, Scotland, to work with
its throwing squad. So far,
things have been looking up —
especially for the Ducks’ marks.
•Sophomore Greg
Aitkenhead, who entered col
lege with a best of 53-11 in the
shot put, then started his col
lege career with a put of 56-4
against Fresno State University,
has upped his best to 60-8. Cur
rently, Aitkenhead is less than
four inches away from the
NCAA qualifying-mark of 61-0.
•Junior Ken Flax, Oregon’s
premier hammer thrower,
began last season with a per
sonal best of 210-7. These days,
Flax has upped his own school
record to 243-1 and is among
the top three college throwers
heading into the NCAA’s.
•Senior Jeff Hultberg, who
transferred from Northwest
Christian College, has been a
consistent performer in three
events for Oregon and has
shown improvement in all of
them. He has qualified for the
NCAA meet in the shot, and his
189-4 in the discus is only eight
inches away from the NCAA
Emerald file photo
Jeff Hultberg has been a major factor for the Ducks this season in
the field events.
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