Rollins keep adding gold to collection

   Coached by "the Bob Ross of throwing", the Parkside Stampder wins at WOSSAA,

   novice shot put, javelin and discus, two with personal best efforts

  May 21, 2022

By Rob J. Ross 

LONDON, Ont. - Merrick Rollins may soon have more gold than Mr. T around his neck.

For the second consecutive meet, the Parkside Stampeder swept the novice men's throwing events, winning shot put, discus and javelin, at the WOSSAA track and field championships, May 19-20, at Western Univeristy.

"Very, very, accomplishing," Rollins said. "I'm quite surprised."

Rollins set a personal best (PB) distance with a best throw of 41.77 metres, seven metres further the second place.

In javelin, Rollins had another PB of 46.51 metres, about four and half meters more than his winning throw at the TVRA meet and nearly five metres more than Dorchester's Evan Stevens, at 41.82 metres.

"I tried out a different javelin. It's a more stiff javelin," Rolllins explained. "When you get more height on it, it will fly further and it added a few more metres to my throw."

Shot put was Rollins' closest event, requiring a tie-breaker, next best throw, to determine first place against Damian Wong, of London Oakridge. Both had best throws of exactly 11 metres. Rollins' second best effort was 10.92 metres, just three centimetres more than Wong.

"Shot was a little more stressful, tying for first," said Rollins, who has a PB of 11.23 metres, set at the Thames Valley Regional Athletics (TVRA) meet, May 12-13.

Rollins also brought home three gold from TVRA.

Mr. T is an actor, known for his abundant gold jewelry and his roles as boxer Clubber Lang, in the movie Rocky III and as B.A. Baracus on the 1980s TV series The A-Team.

Bringing home three gold from WOSSAA is a rare feat and even moreso for throwers.

Francis Hinnah, of London Banting, won the novice boys' 100, 200 and 400 metre dashes, but it is all sprint running. Each of the three throwing events requires different techniques.

"It's very difficult because they're all a little bit different. Different skill sets," Parkside throws coach Kyle Rolph said. "The javelin is totally different from the discus and the shot. To be able to do well in all three, let alone triple gold, is a really big deal."

Rollins leads a Stampeder team of 13 athletes to the OFSAA West Region meet, May 27-28, at Sandwich secondary school, in LaSalle.

"He's naturally athletic and he's so quick, strong and he's really coachable," Rolph said. "He's always looking to go a little bit harder and push himself. He listens to corrections that I say and encouragements. He really puts the work in for sure."

Back in grade six, Rollins won the softball throw, at the final meet for the Thames Valley District School Board, while attending Kettle Creek elementary school, in Port Stanley. Currently, Rollins plays fast pitch for the Fingal Storm.

"I've been coaching for 10 years and he's got the fastest arm I've seen on a kid," Rolph said. "The baseball has helped. (Javelin) is not the same motion as throwing a baseball, but that fast arm really helps out to be able to pull that right through."

In the shot put circle, Rollins does a spin to make up for his lack of height.

"He's doing rotation," Rolph said. "He doesn't have the reach the bigger, taller guys have, so we'll using his speed through the circle. It seems to be working for him. He's the only kid doing the rotational right now. We're maximizing his speed and strength. He still has a long way to go, but for just starting it a week and a half ago, he's doing really well."

Rollins appreciates his coach's calm and relaxed attitude at practice and meets.

"Mr. Rolph is a very good coach," said a smiling Rollins. "We call him the Bob Ross of throwing events."

The "we" is several other throwers under Rolph's guidance who have advanced to the OFSAA West regional, including Stampeders Jayden Sargeant, in junior men's discus, javelin and discus, and senior Alistair MacIver, in discus, who had a five metre PB of 32.50 metres.

There are also East Elgin Eagles Julie Nagelhout and Taylor Kana, the senior and novice women's javelin champions, respectively and Dustin Farrow , who placed third in senior men's javelin.

"He's always positive and you can just tell he always has his athletes best interest in mind," said Nagelhout, of coach Rolph. "He’s also just a super nice person."

Nagelhout won javelin with best effort of 31.81 metres.

"I wasn't where I wanted to be and I only had one good throw that I was happy with," Nagelhout said. "It was good enough. Last week I threw 34, so I was almost three metres under."

At TVRA, Nagelhout placed second behind London banting's Nicole Gallo, who didn't attend WOSSAA.

"Last week I had a girl who was throwing further than me, so I think I was trying to catch up with her," said Nagelhout. "So having the pressure off, I just wasn't throwing as far."

Nagelhout feels she will need a throw of over 38 metres at regionals to advance to OFSAA.

"Julie is a super strong girl and very athletic," Rolph said. "She was a little off today, but that's ok. She was able to move on and she can save her big throw til next week. She still did really good."

Nagelhout also qualified for regionals, in long jump, placing second, but having tied for the best jump of the event at 5.01 metres.

Determining the winner, required each jumper's third best distance, as both Nagelhout and Deng Nyechuor, of John Paul II, both leaped 5.01 and 4.96 metres. Nyechuor's third best measurement of 4.95 metres, two centimetres more than Nagelhout's.

"Tie, tie, and then to the third. Then it was two centmetres. It's nuts," Naglehout said. "After my 5.01, she went and did the same thing. That was just crazy. It's awesome and I love the competition and that made it so exciting. I just tried to keep my mind set on trying to go further than I did before."

Nagelhout vastly improved on her performance from TVRA where she placed sixth, at 4.66 metres.

"I'm so pumped," expressed Nagelhout. "I came here, I was like, oh my goodness, I need to do better than I did last week or I'm not going to make it on. This year I hadn't even hit the four 90s yet. I was getting a little frustrated with myself. My first one I faulted and then my second one, I got 5.01. I was like, thank goodness, finally, I'm back up there.

"It feels good to keep going."

In her third event, Naglehout finished sixth in the 100-metre sprint final.

Taylor Kana is used to throwing out base runners as the catcher for D1 Nationals U15 fast pitch team.

This spring, the Springfield resident is also throwing out big distances in novice women's javelin, including a measurement of 29.58 metres to win gold at WOSSAA.

"I was aiming for 30 but couldn't get it," said Kana. "It's fun and it's fun winning."

Only a few months into her career, after teachers at East Elgin suggested Kana try javelin.

"I was looking for a throwing event and I kind of just chose javelin and went with it," Kana said. "I was jumping before, but didn't really enjoy it. I'm glad I moved on to javelin."

At the most recent tournament for D1, the team went 7-0, with Kana batting 4.76 and driving in eight runs.

In senior men's javelin, Farrow made a nine metre improvement from TVRA, to place third, with a distance of 43.55 metres. I in the senior final.

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