Army West Point Athletics
Cook Set for NCAA Championships in Oregon
June 04, 2018 | Men's Track and Field
NCAA Championships Information
WEST POINT, N.Y. - Rookie August Cook is set to join the big stage as he competes in the javelin at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at historic Hayward Field at the University of Oregon.Â
Cook is concluding an amazing outdoor season for the Black Knights. He placed fifth at the NCAA East Preliminary Round and can become the first Black Knight to score in the event at NCAAs since 1970. The javelin competition starts at 8:30 p.m. EST and Cook is set to throw around 9:30 p.m.
Cook, from Bedford, Pa., is ranked 54th nationally in the javelin with a mark of 66.36m (217-8), which he threw at the Patriot League Championships. Due to his performance at the NCAA Regionals, he earned the honor as the Northeast Region's Men's Track Athlete of the Year, which was awarded by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).Â
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MEET INFORMATION
Where: Eugene, Ore. - Hayward Field
When: June 6 - June 9
START LISTÂ |Â Â WATCH LIVEÂ |Â LIVE RESULTS
COACH SMITH'S QUOTES
On August's progression this season
"August was a little behind earlier in the year and needed reps, but he caught up now. He ended up throwing a little bit more than the other guys on the team throughout the season to get more work. By the time we got to the Patriot League Championships, he started to figure a few things out with his approach and the javelin started to go farther.
"He is a freshman and it is unusual that a first-year cadet-athlete would make the NCAA meet from our institution. In fact, he is only the second freshman that we can find to ever make it to the NCAA outdoor championships since Curt Alitz in 1975, so you have to go back 43 years.
"The last two meets he has thrown in have been a good representation of what he is capable of. He has thrown quite a bit farther at the Patriot League Championships and the regional meet, and we hope he can replicate that at the upcoming NCAA meet. At the league championships we saw what we hoped we would see from him because he has such a cannon for an arm. Once he put together the approach and the technical components with that cannon, he was able to launch the javelin pretty far. He hasn't had a lot of great weather to throw in so he has done most of his throwing in some adverse conditions. We feel pretty good with how he has progressed because if you are performing at your best at the end, that is a good sign regarding your potential. I give credit to Coach Posillico for getting August to where he is today."
On the expectations heading into the meet
"He is not seeded in the top eight and to make it to the finals you have be in the top nine in the preliminaries. There are 24 competitors with two flights of 12. August will be in the second flight so he will know what he needs to throw in order to advance. His first objective is going to be to find a way to get into the top nine since he is ranked 17th heading into the meet. The weather doesn't seem to affect him, but it may affect other people who are used to throwing in favorable conditions.
"We have had a difficult time finding that this spring, but August is dialed in and in tune with competing on the big stage. He doesn't back away from it. If he throws what he threw to get him there, then things should good fairly well and to do that on the big stage would be a great sign.
"We have to remember that when you qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, you are competing against and alongside some of the top competitors in the world. You are competing against other countries' Olympians or Olympic hopefuls. It is such a competitive meet. Our expectations have to be realistic for him. If he were to throw what he has already done, that would be great. I think that it is a reasonable expectation for him to advance to the final. That would be tremendous."
On what this does for the program
"In the recent history of our program in the NCAA, we have qualified one in cross country this year in John Valeri and now August in outdoor track and field. August qualifying for the outdoor championship represents the fifth time we have had a javelin thrower qualify in the history of our program. He is our first competitor since 2011, and if you go back 15 years, we have had seven representatives. We know we are headed in the right direction. If you get more people to the regional championship, you have more chances to get to the NCAA Championship because it is a head-to-head event. The talent pool is going up in our program and this is a representation of that. August is a cadet-athlete who is pretty talented and now he gets to go and measure himself against some of the top throwers in the world."
For more information on Army West Point men's track and field, visit GoArmyWestPoint.com and follow @ArmyWPTrackXC on Twitter.Â
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WEST POINT, N.Y. - Rookie August Cook is set to join the big stage as he competes in the javelin at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at historic Hayward Field at the University of Oregon.Â
Cook is concluding an amazing outdoor season for the Black Knights. He placed fifth at the NCAA East Preliminary Round and can become the first Black Knight to score in the event at NCAAs since 1970. The javelin competition starts at 8:30 p.m. EST and Cook is set to throw around 9:30 p.m.
Cook, from Bedford, Pa., is ranked 54th nationally in the javelin with a mark of 66.36m (217-8), which he threw at the Patriot League Championships. Due to his performance at the NCAA Regionals, he earned the honor as the Northeast Region's Men's Track Athlete of the Year, which was awarded by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).Â
Â
MEET INFORMATION
Where: Eugene, Ore. - Hayward Field
When: June 6 - June 9
START LISTÂ |Â Â WATCH LIVEÂ |Â LIVE RESULTS
COACH SMITH'S QUOTES
On August's progression this season
"August was a little behind earlier in the year and needed reps, but he caught up now. He ended up throwing a little bit more than the other guys on the team throughout the season to get more work. By the time we got to the Patriot League Championships, he started to figure a few things out with his approach and the javelin started to go farther.
"He is a freshman and it is unusual that a first-year cadet-athlete would make the NCAA meet from our institution. In fact, he is only the second freshman that we can find to ever make it to the NCAA outdoor championships since Curt Alitz in 1975, so you have to go back 43 years.
"The last two meets he has thrown in have been a good representation of what he is capable of. He has thrown quite a bit farther at the Patriot League Championships and the regional meet, and we hope he can replicate that at the upcoming NCAA meet. At the league championships we saw what we hoped we would see from him because he has such a cannon for an arm. Once he put together the approach and the technical components with that cannon, he was able to launch the javelin pretty far. He hasn't had a lot of great weather to throw in so he has done most of his throwing in some adverse conditions. We feel pretty good with how he has progressed because if you are performing at your best at the end, that is a good sign regarding your potential. I give credit to Coach Posillico for getting August to where he is today."
On the expectations heading into the meet
"He is not seeded in the top eight and to make it to the finals you have be in the top nine in the preliminaries. There are 24 competitors with two flights of 12. August will be in the second flight so he will know what he needs to throw in order to advance. His first objective is going to be to find a way to get into the top nine since he is ranked 17th heading into the meet. The weather doesn't seem to affect him, but it may affect other people who are used to throwing in favorable conditions.
"We have had a difficult time finding that this spring, but August is dialed in and in tune with competing on the big stage. He doesn't back away from it. If he throws what he threw to get him there, then things should good fairly well and to do that on the big stage would be a great sign.
"We have to remember that when you qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, you are competing against and alongside some of the top competitors in the world. You are competing against other countries' Olympians or Olympic hopefuls. It is such a competitive meet. Our expectations have to be realistic for him. If he were to throw what he has already done, that would be great. I think that it is a reasonable expectation for him to advance to the final. That would be tremendous."
On what this does for the program
"In the recent history of our program in the NCAA, we have qualified one in cross country this year in John Valeri and now August in outdoor track and field. August qualifying for the outdoor championship represents the fifth time we have had a javelin thrower qualify in the history of our program. He is our first competitor since 2011, and if you go back 15 years, we have had seven representatives. We know we are headed in the right direction. If you get more people to the regional championship, you have more chances to get to the NCAA Championship because it is a head-to-head event. The talent pool is going up in our program and this is a representation of that. August is a cadet-athlete who is pretty talented and now he gets to go and measure himself against some of the top throwers in the world."
For more information on Army West Point men's track and field, visit GoArmyWestPoint.com and follow @ArmyWPTrackXC on Twitter.Â
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/ Men's Track and Field
Distance
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