TAMPA - A pair of sophomores fresh off their record-breaking rookie campaigns provide the University of South Florida track and field team with a strong nucleus in the throwing events for the Bulls.
Jared Thomas in the discus and Casey Wagner in the javelin both came in right away for assistant coach for throws Toby Colyer and immediately began to put together a strong resume. Wagner threw 152-8 at the BIG EAST Outdoor Championships to set the new standard for the all-time best mark in program history.
Wagner didn't stop there, though, as she traveled to Eugene, Ore., in late June to compete in the USA Track & Field Junior National Championships. Wagner proved to be the best around, as she captured the title in the javelin, USF's first ever at the championships. Wagner would later take fifth at the Pan American Junior Athletics Championships in Port of Spain, Trinidad to cap a historic season for the freshman.
Thomas, meanwhile, also had a strong season, taking third at the BIG EAST Championships after setting the school record earlier in the season at the LSU Alumni Gold Meet with a heave of 181-2. Like Wagner, Thomas also competed at the Junior Championships, taking fifth to earn All-America honors.
Senior Tyler Perkins also gives the Bulls depth in the throws, as he will look to move up the all-time ranks before season's end. Perkins currently sits third in the discus at 174-10 feet and fourth in the hammer at 160-2 while also ranking in the top 10 in the javelin and shot put. The senior will also aim to improve his ninth-place showing at the NCAA East Regional Championships in the discus.
Providing additional depth on the men's side will be sophomore Marcus Hicks, a former Florida state champion in the shot put who competed sparingly during his freshman year but comes in as the strongest athlete on the team.
The sophomore stronghold continues on the women's side, as second-year players Atasha Warren, Lauren Noe and Sarah Canter all give USF a good nucleus of talent for the next several years.
Warren made her way into the top 10 in USF's all-time records in the shot put, hammer and discus during the outdoor season, including the fifth-best mark in the shot put at 46 feet. Warren also performed at the USA Junior National Championships in the event after qualifying for the BIG EAST Championships in all three of her events.
Noe's strongest outdoor event is the hammer, where she finished the 2009 season holding the third-best mark in school history with a throw of 176-4. Noe competed in the discus and hammer at the league championships, finishing 10th in both. She also took eighth in the weight throw at the indoor championships. Her mark of 57-5.5 stands fourth all time.
Canter competed in the discus and javelin at BIG EAST and was less than a foot away from cracking USF's all-time top 5 javelin record book. She also sits in 10th in the discus.
USF lost two players to graduation in Jara Cornett, USF's No. 2 all-time record holder in the javelin behind Wagner, and Jazmine Highsmith, a top 7 all-time performer in the shot put and hammer.
Stay tuned to GoUSFBulls.com for the next season preview, the distance events, on Friday.
