Chartiers Valley freshman Mason Switala thoroughly enjoyed his three days at the Adidas Indoor Track and Field Nationals at Virgina Beach from March 20 to 22.
He found the time to experience everything the locale had to offer, even the cuisine near his hotel.
“There was a Mexican restaurant attached to the hotel we stayed in,” said Switala. “They had some amazing tacos.”
Of course, taking in some local fare was just a side benefit for Switala, who went into the competition looking to improve upon the 49-foot, 7-inch throw in shot put he produced earlier during the indoor track season at the Slippery Rock All Comers Open on Jan. 18.
Before the Adidas Nationals, Switala was mired in a slump at the state indoor meet a few weeks prior. He didn’t hit the marks he wanted and was on a mission.
He didn’t quite reach his previous personal best throw, but Switala did come home with a gold medal after posting a distance of 48-feet, 5.25 inches.
“It was pretty surreal,” Switala said. “I went there just looking to place well. When I finished in first, I went nuts. I was ecstatic.”
Switala’s mark also set a new meet record.
“It was awesome,” said Colts track and field coach Lori Poe. “He’s definitely a very talented thrower and has a very bright future in shot put and discus.”
Switala began throwing in the seventh grade and he had a strong coach in his grandfather, Bob Flukas, who was one of the high school’s throwing coaches the last five years before he retired.
“Bob saw something in him early on,” Poe said. “He said, ‘Hey, he could be really good at this.’ Bob really taught him a lot.”
Flukas has been at every one of Switala’s meets and has traveled with him, even to the Adidas indoor championships. It’s a way for Flukas to watch his grandson improve after all the training he’s supplied Switala over the years.
“He still does that a lot,” said Switala. “His signature move is to stand out in the field at around 46 feet in shot put and say, ‘Throw it over my head.’ Watching him enjoy my success is a really nice feeling.”
Apart from the training his granddad provides, Switala goes through a very structured weekly regimen designed to develop his strength and his throwing form.
He’ll begin his week with a hard day, which sees him throwing as far as he can, keeping solid form throughout. He will lift weights either before or after his throws. The next day sees Switala perform a range day, where he takes 60-80% of his personal best throw and aims to get within that range, then on the last two or three throws, he looks to exert himself and throw as far as he can.
Day three is a rest day, where Switala will lift with the team and get in two or three throws, but the day mostly consists of stretching and once again focusing on his form. The next day is a mix of a range day and rest day. All of his throws are recorded so he can go back and see what needs work.
“It doesn’t necessarily sound like there’s a correlation, but the aggressiveness and the explosive lifts I did when I worked out for football have played a huge role in getting the power I need to get off a good throw,” said Switala, who at 6-foot-2, 215 pounds, also plays offensive and defensive line for the football team.
His continued work and exhaustive training have helped Switala put together some solid outings early on in the outdoor track season.
In a home meet against South Fayette on March 24, Switala tossed a 46-foot, 11-inch shot put and hit 141 feet in discus.
Both were in the range of what he had been hitting in practice, but in his next competition, at the South Hills Classic, Switala had a slight setback, only hitting 43 feet, 7 inches in shot put and 124 feet in discus.
Poe and her staff have to remind themselves that Switala is just a freshman and that there will be times when he struggles despite his experience and outstanding throws early on.
“In the whole scheme of things, he’s doing very well,” said Poe. “He has high expectations for himself and gets frustrated with himself if he doesn’t throw further. It’s like being a sprinter or distance runner. You’re going to plateau for a while and that’s OK.”
“I try not to get down on myself after a bad performance or if I plateau,” said Switala. “As long as I strive to break my previous throws, that’s what I try to focus on the most.”
Switala rebounded quickly in the Colts’ next meet April 8 against Moon. He didn’t get near his personal best in shot put with a distance of 46 feet, 7.5 inches, but he did get first place in the event.
It was his discus throw that had his friends and spectators from Moon congratulating him after the event. He placed first with a distance of 151 feet, 6 inches.
“When I made my first throw and saw that mark out there, I couldn’t put my feelings into words,” said Switala. “I had hit that distance in practice and the form I had on that throw was perfect.”
While he went out to grab his discus, Switala got a most reassuring sign from his longtime trainer.
Said Switala: “I saw my granddad sitting on the sideline, and all he did was give me a thumbs up. I could tell he was really happy for me.”
His granddad had to have been on top of the world when Switala shattered the school’s discus record (153-5) in the TSTCA Championships at West Mifflin on April 11.
Switala put forth his best effort and came away with a 162-foot, 10-inch throw that saw him finish in second place, sandwiched between two seniors.
“I was so pumped,” said Switala. “I started jumping and screaming. Gradnpa said I looked like a long/high jumper with how high I was jumping. My teammates were going wild too.”
With one school record down, Switala has his sights set on the shot put record (52 feet, 9 inches) and hopes to eclipse that by season’s end.
“To get that record, sticking to my regimen is going to be key,” Switala admitted. “I have to keep recording my throws as well, watch them all back and make the necessary adjustments. It’s the little things and once I fix those, I can let one sail and make it happen.”
Poe said what Switala has accomplished in his first season of high school track and field will inspire his teammates and show them that they can also achieve great things if they work hard and trust themselves.
“When you’re a top thrower, people are naturally going to look up to you,” Poe said. “So, you’re also developing that leadership aspect with him because you want him to be demonstrating, like, ‘Hey, you guys can do this. I’m a freshman. Look what I’m doing.’
“We’re hoping that some of the other athletes will be inspired and pushed by him.”
Switala would love to find himself in that sort of inspirational leadership role one day.
He knows that there are other athletes, both on his team and those he competes against, who witness how he is performing and are looking up to him.
“I never thought they would look up to me because I am an underclassman,” said Switala. “But I would like them to know I look up to them and their leadership.”