On Saturday, March 26, junior Tom Boucher broke the program record for the javelin throw. His 59.79-meter toss surpassed his own previous record from last year by five full meters.
That impressive performance contributed to the Jays’ second-place showing at the Maryland Invitational, in which they finished only 24 points behind the Rowan University Profs and narrowly beat the D-I Maryland hosts.
The Centennial Conference named Boucher Field Athlete of the Week, as his mark not only registered as highest within the Conference but ranks fourth among all National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) D-III track athletes so far this season.
The News-Letter was able to sit down with Boucher to discuss his recent successes and his reaction to winning the first weekly honor of his career.
The News-Letter: How did you feel before your javelin throw? How did you approach the event?
Tom Boucher: I was excited to throw javelin again! It had been almost a year since I had thrown competitively, so the Maryland meet was just to regain confidence in the event.
N-L: Given such an impressive start, what expectations do you have for yourself the rest of the spring season?
TB: My goal for this season is to qualify for Nationals. In order to qualify, you need to have a national top-20 mark by the end of the season. In order do well at Nationals place-wise, it usually [takes] a 63-65 meter throw. So the goal this season is to throw over 60 meters and then see where I can go from there. All-American would be the best-case scenario.
N-L: How does it feel to earn your first weekly honor? To what do you attribute that success?
TB: I would say my teammates. It’s easy to do well at something if you enjoy the grind of working towards your goals. Sometimes, it’s difficult to enjoy sprinting until total exhaustion and pushing yourself to the limit but what makes it worth it is the people with whom you suffer through tough practices. Going to practice is so much fun. Spending time with these people all working toward the same goal is one of the greatest experiences of my life.
N-L: What is your typical training week like? How do you generally like to prepare for a meet?
TB: I train with the multi-event athletes so I get to do a lot of different things. Practices usually last between one and a half and four hours Monday through Friday with meets on Saturdays and independent recoveries on Sundays. Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays are our difficult days. Mondays we hurdle, do some short sprinting and lift. Tuesdays we have specific event work (like javelin) and then long sprints. Wednesdays we do simple body weight and medicine ball circuits and try to recover. Thursdays we do more event work (I usually stick with javelin) and have a mid-distance workout. Finally on Fridays we do our pre-meet warm up. After every practice, we try to go see our athletic trainers because track is one of those sports where everyone is perpetually slightly injured, and if you don’t take the steps to prevent further injury, you end up out for weeks.
With consistent improvement on his mind, Boucher will look to take the momentum from his successful meet at the Maryland Invitational with him to the Mason Spring Invitational at George Mason University this weekend.
