Brennan worked way to top
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
Rashone Johnson was busy coaching other sports when he first took notice of Tim Brennan.
Brennan, a Cranbury resident, started to focus on the throwing events for track and field at a young age. By eighth grade, he was building up the strength and technique that would make him a top-flight thrower and record-holder for Princeton High School.
”Even in Cranbury, I would be over there doing wrestling stuff, I would see him in the back practicing hammer,” said Johnson, the PHS boys track and field head coach. “He’s the guy that does everything a champion does when people aren’t around. It’s not about what you do when people see you. He did everything right.”
It paid off through a career that saw Brennan steadily develop year after year. As a senior, Brennan saved his best for last, literally throwing a personal- and school-record in the discus on his final throw in his final New Jersey competition.
”I definitely knew I had that big throw in me,” Brennan said. “The weeks before, I was throwing consistently in the 170s. My first four throws were over 170. I knew I had it in me. Going into my final throw, I knew I needed to hit a big throw. I was able to get a good release and get good speed and I was able to get the big throw I was hoping for.”
Brennan record 180-feet-9 throw was good for third place at the Meet of Champions, his best finish there yet. Brennan had won the discus at the Mercer County Championships as well as medaling in the shot put in fifth place, won the discus and placed fourth in the shot put at sectionals.
A week and a half after the MOC, he took down the longest standing record in Mercer County. His hammer throw of 199-6½ earned him 12th at the New Balance Outdoor Nationals and broke the county mark in the infrequently contested event set by Lawrenceville School’s John DeWitt in 1900.
Tim Brennan is the HiTOPS/Princeton Packet Boys Outdoor Track and Field Athlete of the Year.
”I totally expected this out of him,” Johnson said. “We all did. His work ethic is second to none. He has an old-school work ethic. He’s not like these new kids from this generation. He has an old school work ethic that I appreciate.
”He’s a monster. He ended up having multiple records for Princeton High School.”
Brennan will continue his career at Dartmouth College, where he will shift his focus to the hammer.
”I really have never been coached in it and I’m one of the best in the country with few practices,” Brennan said. “If I’m able to focus and get more than three practices in before the national meet, I’ll do better. And the discus will be my secondary event.”
Fine-tuning a third event in college would be too much, but Brennan will also do the weight throw that is closely associated with hammer and will throw the shot put on occasion. At PHS, he developed consistently, upping his best throws each year thanks to improving his strength and technique.
”I think most of it, for the discus, was I had to change from non-reversing to reversing in my throw,” Brennan said of this year. “That was a huge change to my technique. That allowed me to be a lot faster in the circle and for a smaller thrower, that’s important. Speed was big for discus, and strength was a big thing for the hammer.”
Brennan is shorter than many throwers, and he had to improve his strength to be able to use the reverse throwing style he built up to this season. He has never been afraid to work for something, and that is something that separates him from the field.
Explained Johnson: “Does he have some natural ability? Yes. Does he have a dad who knows how to coach him? Yes, he’s the coach at Peddie. But he still has to do the work. I take my hat off to him. There isn’t a kid on the track team that works harder than Tim Brennan. You’d be hard fought to find somebody that’s going to outwork Tim Brennan in the whole high school.”
Brennan recognized his talent early in his life and has worked to develop it. He tried all the different track and field events and played the usual sports.
”I was a bigger kid so I started doing throws when I got into eighth grade,” Brennan said. “When I did wrestling and other sports, I decided I had talent in that event and that sport. That’s why I stuck with throwing.”
Brennan developed into a record-setting thrower who the Little Tigers came to depend on in the biggest of meets. His discus improved from sectionals to groups to MOC.
”Some of it is attributed to training where you’re trying to peak at the right time and getting rested for the big meets,” Brennan said. “For most athletes, it’s how you deal with the pressure of high stakes meets. Some people collapse, and some people prosper. Staying relaxed in those high pressure situations and staying really mentally focused and not falling apart and if something goes wrong, you have to keep your head.”
Years of high end competition had helped Brennan learn to deal with the pressures of the big meets. And he was saved his greatest success for the end of the year.
”What stands out for me is his consistency during the season,” Johnson said. “His consistency and his ability to not be fazed by whatever was going on by what’s going around him.
”And the highlight was the Meet of Champs, he’s out to try to break his record for disc. It’s his last throw at Meet of Champions, and that’s when he busts that 180 out. On his last throw of his high school career pretty much, NJSIAA speaking. He knew it was good and when they measured it, he took off screaming down the side. It was awesome. It was the perfect, fitting end of his high school career.”
Brennan used the adrenaline of competing against the best throwers in the state to prove that he belonged right up near the top. Tim Brennan finished with his best, and he is looking forward to even bigger meets ahead as he heads to the next level.
”I achieved all of my missions I set for this season,” Brennan said. “The only thing I have regrets about is the hammer championship at nationals. I was shooting for All-American.
”I still have a few more meets to see if I can improve a little more in my high school career. I’m going to throw (hammer) in three or four more meets. I still have a few chances to improve my mark.”