In 1998, he was the No. 3 prep thrower in Oregon.
In 1999, he was the No. 4 place-kicker for the Oregon State football team.
Last year, he was the No. 2 javelin thrower for the Oregon track and field team.
Today, sophomore John Stiegeler is second to nobody in the javelin. Not to anyone on his team, in the Pacific-10 Conference, or even the nation.
The redshirt sophomore from Coos Bay owns the country’s best mark in the javelin with a toss of 245 feet, nine inches — roughly the distance from an end zone of a football field to the opposite 19-yard line.
Stiegeler has impressed many this season, including fans, coaches and even himself.
“I expected to be among the top throwers,” Stiegeler said. “I didn’t expect to be at the top so quickly. I’ve never really been the top anything.”
“I knew John was going to be throwing far,” said Dan Steele, Oregon’s javelin and hurdles coach. “But I didn’t know he was going to improve that much.”
In his season debut on March 17 at the Oregon Preview, Stiegeler uncorked a 15-foot personal best in his first competition of the year. His throw of 238-7 earned him the nation’s top billing and the No. 2 spot on the Oregon record book.
What has surprised his coaches the most this season is Stiegeler’s vast improvement from last season. During the 2000 campaign, Stiegeler struggled to improve and failed to achieve his goal of 220 feet.
After a disappointing performance at the Pac-10 Championships last season, where he threw 203-10 for ninth-place, Stiegeler took a month off to heal a recurring knee injury. In early July, Stiegeler decided to participate in the Summer Javelin Festival in New Haven, Conn. A rested Stiegeler exploded for a personal best 225-3, good enough for third-place out of 15 international competitors.
“I didn’t start throwing as well as I’d wanted to until the summertime, which is a little frustrating,” Stiegeler said. “I’d been expecting to throw in the 220’s last year. I couldn’t really put it all together until the summer, then it started clicking when it was too late.”

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Since graduating from Marshfield High in 1998, Stiegeler’s career has taken a 180-degree turn.
He began his collegiate career as a walk-on for the Oregon State football team. After a successful fall with the Beavers behind starting place-kicker Jose Cortez, Stiegeler thought he would stay in Corvallis and climb up the Oregon State depth chart.
Then, spring football drills arrived.
“After springtime came around I really started missing track again,” Stiegeler said. “I decided to transfer, but I wasn’t quite sure where. I called around to different schools and eventually found Oregon to be the best place for me.”
Because Oregon State does not offer track and field as a varsity sport, Stiegeler competed with the OSU Track Club, where he competed for the first time with a college implement. But it just wasn’t the same for Stiegeler.
“I liked it up there, it was nice,” he said. “Had I stayed there I would have had the opportunity to be the starting kicker. It’s something I still have as an option. But I really missed track and now I’m where God wants me.”

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What has been the key to Stiegeler’s success?
“Technique. Technique and timing,” Stiegeler said. “It’s all about physics and transferring momentum, so if something’s out of sequence or if you’re not in the right position then you’re losing power so the javelin just doesn’t go as far.”
During the off-season, when most throwers were in the weight room, Stiegeler spent time honing small technical skills involved in throwing the javelin.
“It’s kind of like cutting a diamond,” Stiegeler said. “You use a nice fine microscope and you cut off a little piece here and little piece there but you really don’t know what it looks like until you back up. So that’s kind of like how my training has been.
“I’ve been working on the little things. I really didn’t know what to expect until I went out there and did it.”
With the nation’s top mark, Stiegeler is Oregon’s best chance for an NCAA Champion since Art Skipper, the 1992 javelin king. An added bonus will be that the NCAA’s will take place at Hayward Field from May 30-June 2.
“A lot of factors go into winning an NCAA title,” Steele said. “John will have to be sound technically, he’ll have to deal with 10,000 screaming Oregon fans, and he’ll have to be there emotionally in order to be in it. I think he could do it. I’d love to see him do it. It would be good for him and good for the program. It’s my job to get him ready in all of those areas and I think he’s in good position.”
Stiegeler is 100 percent focused on this season, but his ultimate career aspirations extend beyond his collegiate career.
“This year, obviously I’d like to win an NCAA title,” Stiegeler said. “After I get done here I’ll train for the 2004 Olympics.”
“The sky’s the limit,” Steele said. “He’s just now making the transition from good collegiate thrower to the great thrower nationally. He’s on the verge of really stepping up and becoming the best thrower in the country.”
With an automatic NCAA qualifying mark already under his belt, Stiegeler is assured of a trip to nationals in his own backyard at Hayward.