SLIPPERY ROCK — It wasn't long ago when the javelin was little more than a curiosity for Maryann Ackerman.

She threw it a few times in the eighth grade and saw it as something to merely dabble in as she focused on the shot put and discus.

Then something clicked.

Midway through the track and field season last spring for Slippery Rock High, she suddenly began throwing the javelin farther and farther.

She broke 100 feet for the first time.

Then 110.

Then 120.

By the end of the season, her throw of 124 feet, 2 inches was nipping at the school record.

At the Mercer County Relays Saturday in the first meet of her sophomore season, Ackerman shattered that mark.

On her first throw, the javelin sailed 136 feet, 4 inches, breaking the mark of 124-5 set by Melanie Prelec in 2008.

Ackerman predicted such success — sort of.

“Um, to a point,” Ackerman said, chuckling. “It was kind of a joke. I ended the season last year just a few inches away from the record and I worked all summer. We measured the throws and they were all farther than the record.”

Still, Ackerman had to go out and do it on a sunny, but raw, day at Wilmington High School.

Each of her first three throws would have snapped the record.

Not bad considering Ackerman had only two weeks to prepare after the conclusion of a successful basketball season for the Rockets.

“I love basketball and it really takes up a ton of my time,” said Ackerman, who led the Slippery Rock girls basketball team with 13.5 points per game. “I worked into the fall (on throwing the javelin) but then basketball took over.”

It was the meet last year at mid-season that spawned Ackerman's greater interest in the event and led to a trip to the PIAA Track and Field Championships.

“After that first throw over 100 feet, I thought, 'Hey, I might be pretty good at this,'” Ackerman said.

Slippery Rock boys and girls track and field coach Tom Meling saw her commitment to the event blossom first-hand.

“She got the bug,” Meling said.

Ackerman's record-setting throw would have been good enough for third place in Class AAA at the state meet a year ago.

As a freshman, Ackerman was 26th in the event in Shippensburg.

Despite Ackerman's prodigious rise in the javelin in short period of time, Meling has urged caution.

“But if she could do 145 consistently this year, that would be tremendous,” Meling said. “She's still a little inconsistent and still young. She's driven and aggressive and that's the mentality she has with the javelin and her other throws. And she's just a sophomore. We're very excited.”

Ackerman doesn't have a magical number in mind that she would like to hit by the end of the season.

Instead she is taking the a more immediate view.

“I just want to throw better the next meet,” Ackerman said.

Ackerman has always had a strong arm.

She played baseball until the seventh grade and was a pitcher.

It was the mechanics and technique of pitching that interested her the most and that has translated to the javelin.

She's a tactician when she throws, dissecting every part of her mechanics.

Ackerman is also goal-oriented and doesn't lack the motivation to improve.

“I just always try to push myself to get better,” Ackerman said. “Track is an individual sport for the most part and I don't like to lose, even if it's to the person standing next to me.”