By BYRON BEERS

Harper Weatherly took some advice as a sophomore at Jenks High School and ran with it.

“I was in a weight training class and one of the track coaches was my teacher and said that I should try throwing, and so I decided to give it a shot and have been throwing ever since,” said Weatherly, now a senior.

Weartherley not only ran with his decision to compete in shot put, but has thrived.

On April 28, he won the shot put event in the Frontier Valley Conference Championships at Union High School with a distance of 53-07.00, three feet better than second-place finisher Shane Wyatt of Broken Arrow.

He hopes to continue his prowess and bring home a state championship, not only in the shot put, but in the discus throw. Weatherly also has some academic goals to achieve.

“My biggest goal this year is to win state in both shot put and disc. My main academic goal as a senior is getting some of my college classes out of the way and finishing my senior year strong,” he said.

Before his shot put title in the conference championships, Weatherly finished second in both the shot put and discus throw at the Spartan Track and Field Invitational on April 21. He had a throw of a personal record 55-06.00 in the shot put and a 155-09.00 in the discus. His personal best in the discus is a 160 he threw as a junior.

Weatherly has continued to progress on his strength and says his work ethic and being coachable are his strong points.

“Some of my strengths are being coachable and being willing to do what the coaches tell me to do,” Weatherly said. “Another one of my strengths is having a good work ethic and never giving up till I meet my goal and work hard to meet the next goal. 

“One thing I have improved on is my strength. With being a thrower you gotta be a big boy so we are working out in the weight room four days out of the week and throwing five, so that has forced me to get my strength up.”

As for his final year at Jenks, he just wants to enjoy his remaining days and hopefully win the ultimate prize.

“I want to go out there and enjoy my last season of throwing but also the thought of winning it all and will do whatever it takes to make sure I win,” Weatherly said. “As a team I feel really good about this year. We have a lot of good guys this year and feel like we can win it all which would just make my last year in high school track that much better.”

Weatherly is inspired by two-time American gold medalist and Olympic record holder Ryan Crouser. 

“A professional athlete I’ve watched ever since I’ve started throwing is a thrower named Ryan Crouser. I’ve learned a lot of new ways to be a better thrower by learning some of his methods and techniques. He currently holds the world record as a thrower. He is also big into fishing and hunting, and those are two of my favorite things to do,” said Weatherly, who also enjoys golfing.

Once his days as a high school student athlete are completed, Weatherly plans on attending Oklahoma State University but is undecided on what he wants to study.