By Rich Fisher, Sports Editor
John Viotto has reached a comfort level.
Now he wants to reach some big-time marks.
In just his sophomore year on the University of Delaware men’s track & field team, the 2007 South Brunswick High graduate got some things straightened out with the shot put since last year and is forecasting a successful spring season.
”I’m more comfortable with my technique than I’ve ever been,” Viotto said. “That’s given me a lot better chance to do well. When you’re comfortable with you’re technique, it means you can throw hard. When you’re not, you’re sometimes holding back a little.”
Viotto held back nothing during this past indoor season.
He won the shot put event at three different invitationals – the Jack Pyrah, Lehigh/John Covert and Delaware/Thomson – finished fourth at the Penn State Open and was 12th in IC4A Championships, which include the best competition in the East. His throw of 53-5½ is the third best indoor mark in Delaware history.
”I just had to work on some simple things,” Viotto said. “Keeping the head back, extension. Little things like that added a lot. And the shot put in college is four pounds heavier, so you’re making that adjustment, along with the adjustment to your technique. It takes some time.”
It’s not like Viotto had a bad freshman year.
Far from it.
After deciding on a scholarship offer from Delaware over such schools as Rutgers, Maryland, Lafayette and SUNY Albany, Viotto made an immediate impact during his freshman indoor season.
He won the shot at the Delaware Invitational, took third at the Lehigh/Covert, fifth at the Penn State Open and 21st at the IC4As. His top throw was a Blue Hens freshman record of 51-7¾.
But the season was an adjustment period for Viotto, who continued to experiment with new things in the spring.
”I wasn’t as happy with the outdoor season as I was with indoor,” he said. “After getting the freshman record, I only hit 49-10. I was also working on discus a lot. That was my main event in high school.”
Viotto still has the second best discus throw at SBHS and third best shot put. He is learning new technique with the discus and feels he’s still a year away from actually blossoming in that event at UD.
And despite his disappointment with last year’s outdoor season, it wasn’t too shabby.
In the shot, he won the Towson Invitational and Delaware Open, took third at the Maryland Invitational, eighth in the Colonial Relays and second in the Colonial Athletic Association Championships. He was 20th at the IC4As, where just qualifying is a nice feat for a freshman.
His best discus throw was 137-11 and best hammer throw was 116-2.
”Last year wasn’t very good for discus, I did pretty poorly,” said Viotto, who got the good news recently that his grades were good enough to be accepted as a History Education major. “That was also heavier implement. In high school if I just threw it hard it would go, but my coach wanted me to work on technique.
”I’m progressing, I’ve gotten better. I had to tear the whole thing apart and go back to square one. But we have one of the best assistant coaches (Larry Pratt) in the country. He worked with me and it took a while to adjust. I’m just starting to get back into it with the discus this year but I still think that’s going to be my best event.”
Viotto is setting his goals high this spring. He hopes to get an NCAA regional qualifying mark of 16 meters/80 centimeters in the shot, which equates to a few inches over 55 feet. He has already qualified for the IC4A thanks to an indoor throw that carries over to the spring. He also wants to throw the discus at least 165 feet, which would also make the IC4As.
The IC4A meet is at Princeton University, meaning Viotto should get a strong cheering section.
There is an irony to the fact that Viotto returns home as a track & field star, if only because the sport was secondary to him a couple times during his life.
In middle school, he played baseball until his neighbor, Crossroads track coach Diane Yeager, talked him into trying track in eighth grade.
”I did pretty bad that first year,” he recalled. “I was like the third guy on the team, but I kept working on it.”
At SBHS, he focused more on football and let his natural ability take over in track. But when college track offers started popping up his junior year, Viotto knew what to do.
”I really liked football, but at 6-1 I didn’t think I was going to play Division I at my position,” said the former two-way lineman. “I didn’t want to play Division III football, so I figured track was the way to go.
”The coaching staff here sold me on it. I had great coaches at South Brunswick but I kind of did track as a secondary sport so I never spent time trying to improve. I used whatever I had and threw. Here, we film every single day, break down our film and use that to break down the technique. It’s like one long season.”
Viotto feels the best is yet to come this season.
”I think,” he said, “This is going to be a huge spring for me.”
And he feels quite comfortable in saying that.

