Freshman weight thrower has bigger plans for future
By: Justin Feil
When Josh McCaughey was in high school, he spent a lot of time trying to find something he really liked to do.
When he was cut from the basketball team at Bishop Hendricken, the West Kingston, Rhode Island resident turned to indoor track and with it opened a door to a gift.
"It was my guidance counselor who asked me to come out for indoor track," said McCaughey, now a freshman at Princeton University. "I had been searching for my athletic niche for a while. I consider myself pretty lucky. I found something I love doing."
McCaughey found the weight throw, an indoor event that requires its participants to rotate in a tight circle and launch a 25-pound weight as far as possible. In his senior season, McCaughey sent a weight farther than any other high school student ever had 81 feet, 8 inches.
The son of two teachers, McCaughey felt most comfortable when he visited Princeton. And when McCaughey, along with fellow Rhode Island resident and weight thrower Mark Smith, came he filled a gaping hole for the Tigers, who had gone without a true weight thrower last year.
In meet after meet, McCaughey outdistanced other freshman, other sophomores and juniors and seniors. In all he won six of the eight competitions he entered, now throwing with the collegiate weight of 35 pounds.
Last Friday, McCaughey topped off his first season of indoor track and field by earning All-America honors with a 14th-place finish at the NCAA Championships. The freshman was seventh out of nine Americans in the 17-person field in which the top two finishers both eclipsed the existing collegiate record.
"I was looking to throw a little farther," said McCaughey, whose best effort Friday in three throws was 64 feet, 1 inch on his first attempt. "My goal was to make the finals. It was extremely good competition, and I still would have been the last guy in the finals if I threw what I wanted.
"It was the first time I didn’t make finals this year. But it’s always good to eat some humble pie. How can I be upset though? I made All-American. It was a really good experience and I got all my jitters out there. Hopefully, I’ll do better next time."
It’s entirely possible that McCaughey will become a regular at the NCAAs. He’ll have another legitimate chance this spring when he picks up the hammer, the lighter 16-pound equivalent to the indoor weight, for the Tigers.
"I enjoy the hammer a little bit more than the weight," admitted McCaughey. "I definitely enjoy outdoor track more. Hammer is a little bit more of a challenge. It’s fun to see how disciplined you can be. I think if I throw what I’m capable of, I’ll do well."
It’s possible that, by the time he graduates, he could own several of the Princeton records. It’s been a decade since any Princeton weight or hammer thrower was in the NCAAs and it’s been two decades since Dave Pellegrini set the 35-pound weight record of 69 feet, 3½ inches at the 1980 indoor NCAAs.
McCaughey was coming off a sixth place finish at the IC4A meet when he threw at the NCAA Championships. Earlier this season, the 18-year-old set the junior national record of 67 feet, 10¾ inches at the indoor Princeton Invitational on Feb. 17. He also broke the meet record at the H-Y-P meet and won the indoor Heptagonals to help the Princeton men to their fourth consecutive Heps title.
"I think he’s done very well," Princeton head track and field coach Fred Samara said. "Maybe a little better than I thought he would with the jump up to the 35-pound weight, even though he had thrown it some in high school. I think he’s had a great year. I just hope he can carry it through to outdoors.
"He’s not by any means a lock for the NCAAs. He’s going to have to throw pretty far. Our goal is to have him throw in excess of 210 (feet)."
That might just qualify him for nationals. It’s no easy task. Track and field athletes only make the NCAAs if they’re in the top 15-20 athletes in their event.
To understand what the 210-feet goal means for the freshman, it should be known that 1990 PU graduate Peter Seley holds the hammer record at 202 feet, 1 inch. To which, McCaughey reacts with composure.
"It will all come in good time," he said. "If I focus on what I can do, I should surpass the (weight) and the hammer also."
McCaughey still has some growing and some learning to do before he reaches his peak. He experimented early in the season with three turns before releasing the weight, but it cost him distance on his throws because good form was so difficult to keep and it was too early to fight past the psychological barrier. The technique for the weight and hammer is something he expects to continually work at during his Princeton career.
"In high school, you work a lot on getting your basic strength and technique down," said McCaughey, who uses four turns before releasing the hammer. "Then you try to add more strength and speed. Most people don’t perfect the hammer. It’s still a huge challenge. I’ll keep doing this until I get the most out of what I feel I can.
"My form is decent, but for the guys who placed first, second and third, their form is a little better. By the time I’m a senior, I should be able to be like them."
Samara doesn’t see a limit for the talented newcomer, so long as he puts the effort into his training.
"He’s still a young kid," the long-time coach noted. "He needs to learn still how to train harder to be a world-class athlete. I don’t have any upward goals for him. Any time you go to nationals prior to your senior year, the advantage is you want to get better each time you go back. Our whole goal is to step up our level of competition and get guys like him ready for that."
McCaughey is one of the additions that Princeton hopes will one day make them a stronger threat on the national level as a team. It’s something he’s discussed openly with fellow freshman Tristan Colangelo, an accomplished distance runner.
"We’ve talked about beating Stanford," McCaughey said. "We’d love to give them a run for their money. We have a lot of untapped potential. We can do well at Heps and IC4As. Nationals would just be the icing on the cake."
Josh McCaughey better watch his weight with the extra desserts. Having found his athletic niche, there’s going to be plenty of cake and lots more icing in the Princeton freshman’s future.