Walter Henning enters the NCAA Championships as the clear favorite. He has the furthest throw in the country by nearly a meter. He is undefeated in four competitions. He has improved his distance every week. And he has shown he can throw well at Arkansas after winning the SEC title there. He seems unstoppable, except for the fact that he entered last year's meet in the same position. Henning entered last year's meet more than a meter ahead of Jason Lewis (Arizona State) and Steffen Nerdal (Memphis), but that didn't matter as Lewis took the surprise win and Nerdal came in second. Both Lewis and Nerdal are back in this year's competition and will be looking to peak at the right time again.
Nerdal has been incredibly consistent this year. Last season he was throwing in the mid 21s all year before launching a 22.54m throw at the NCAA Championships. Every meet his year has been in the mid 22m range, with his worst effort still being 22.34m. He is also undefeated this year against collegiate competition. If Nerdal peaks, I think he will be the person most capable of beating Henning. Lewis, on the other hand, has only had two competitions this year in the weight throw, the last of which was more than a month ago.. While his PR is not as good, he has thrown further than he did last year entering this meet. The tall and strong kid from Arizona may be setting himself up for yet another upset.
A pair of throwers from Virginia Tech will also be in the mix. Alexander Ziegler (Virginia Tech) just enrolled recently and has quickly gotten the hang of the weight throw. He has steadily improved in each competition and is now ranked third in the country. After a few more weeks of experience with the implement, he may be capable of throwing further. He is a great hammer thrower too, and that shows what is a capable of. Marcel Lomnicky (Virginia Tech) has also improved considerably this indoor season, but it will take a bit more from him to reach to podium.
Look for the top throwers to likely stay true to form this weekend. All of them have proved to be consistent at their level and, absent some big personal bests, will leave the meet as they entered. The rest of the field is all grouped within a foot of 21 meters. While many have been consistent, it just takes on throw and it will be a battle to make the finals this year.
Predicted order of finish: (1) Walter Henning; (2) Steffen Nerdal; (3) Alexander Ziegler; (4) Jason Lewis; (5) Marcel Lomnicky; (6) Michael Zajac; (7) John Freeman; (8) Michael Lauro.
Men Weight Throw Entries
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Name Year School Seed Mark
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1 Walter Henning JR LSU 23.80mD
2 Steffen Nerdal SR Memphis 22.81mD
3 Alexander Ziegler FR Virginia Tec 22.51mD
4 Jason Lewis SR Arizona Stat 21.92mD
5 Marcel Lomnicky SO Virginia Tec 21.24mD
6 Mike Zajac JR South Caroli 21.23mD
7 Aaron Studt SR Minnesota 21.22mD
8 Branislav Danis SR Georgia 21.11mD
9 J.C. Lambert SO Southern Ill 21.08mD
10 John Freeman SR Georgia 21.06mD
11 KP Singh JR Oklahoma 21.03mD
12 Adonson Shallow JR SE Louisiana 21.02mD
13 Leif Arrhenius JR BYU 20.91mD
14 Dimitrios Fylladitakis JR UTEP 20.90mD
15 Michael Lauro SO LSU 20.81mD
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