Twin Titles
WHITEHALL — Zach Gehm spent the night before the WPIAL Track and Field Championships watching javelin throwers on YouTube.
Something caught his eye.
A thrower cocked the javelin directly over and behind his head before thrusting his arm forward to make a throw.
Gehm decided to give that technique a try Thursday afternoon at Baldwin High School.
And with startling results.
Gehm won the WPIAL Class AAA boys title in the javelin with a throw of 193 feet, 9 inches.
“Oh my gosh,” Gehm said. “I did not expect that. I was watching YouTube videos (Wednesday night) and decided to try something new.”
Asked if he was worried if changing his technique would sabotage his chances in the event, Gehm answered with an emphatic, “No.”
“It felt real nice,” Gehm added. “I tried it on warm-ups and it felt pretty good. I knew it was going to be a good day.”
It certainly was for Gehm, who spent a lot of time Thursday on the podium at Baldwin.
Gehm also won the Class AAA discus with a throw of 189 feet and was second in the shot put at 53-6 3/4.
“Being a two-time champion — it's just amazing,” Gehm said. “I've been overshadowed so many years here, to come out and do my best here and get two golds, it's ridiculous.”
Gehm, a senior, was struggling in the discus just a month ago, but managed to turn things around at the Penn Relays in late April.
“It was the weekend of my birthday, actually,” Gehm said. “There was a lot of good competition there. There was a team from Jamaica there who I had to compete with if I wanted to be in the finals and I ended up doing that and making it to the finals.”
Gehm threw 173 feet in the discus there and followed that up with a 182 at the Baldwin Invitational two weeks later.
But Gehm was beaming about his effort at the WPIAL finals.
“Hitting 189,” Gehm said, “it's just amazing.”
Gehm was also proud of his javelin effort.
“I didn't even know what to think when I won my first event (the javelin),” Gehm said. “Then the adrenaline carried over through the discus.”
Gehm hopes that adrenaline carries over to the PIAA Track and Field Championships over Memorial Day Weekend.
“There's going to be a lot of great competition there,” Gehm said. “I'm looking forward to seeing what I can do.”
