Oregon’s Karis Howell never imagined she’d be a thrower. At least not until her sophomore year of high school, when someone suggested she try the javelin.
“It was kind of a fluke thing,” the redshirt junior said. “I was always a sprinter and a hurdler. I did volleyball and basketball. And then people started saying, ‘Why don’t you throw the javelin?’ And I was like, ‘I’m not a thrower. Why would I throw things?’”
Well, to win. Howell achieved All-American status and won the Pacific-10 Conference as a freshman in 1997-98. Injury sidelined her until this season, but that time off gave her the opportunity to polish her fundamentals and reenergize for this season.
“I definitely looked forward to this year, about being back and just having fun with throwing,” Howell said. “I think that’s the biggest thing about it, not stressing too much.”
Healthy once again, the Vancouver native hasn’t seemed to sweat much this season. She’s the Pac-10 leading javelin thrower with a throw of 166 feet, 4 inches — five feet further than her next closest competitor. Moreover, Howell is the only non-UCLA representative to hold that top-billing in a field event heading into this weekend’s championship meet.
“I hadn’t really thought about it like that, but I guess it’s kind of nice,” said Howell, noting she’ll have to fend off the advances by last season’s champ, Seilala Sua of UCLA.
Also nice is having three teammates join her in action. In addition to Howell, Oregon boasts the sixth, eighth and 11th-best javelin throwers in the conference. -M.S.