The combination is rare, indeed.

But Jordan Geist has it.

The Knoch junior continues to rewrite record books all over the place in the shot put. Every time he heaves the thing, another record seems to fall.

Let’s just try to put his numbers in perspective.

Only three years ago, the Butler County record in the boys shot put was 61 feet, 9 inches, courtesy of Freeport’s Bob White in 1984.

The farthest shot put by a Knoch athlete at that time was 54 feet, 9.5 inches, accomplished by Mike Crouch in 1983.

Geist routinely hits 70 feet in practice these days. Most of Knoch’s track meets this spring have become home meets because visiting venues don’t have a shot put area long enough to hold Geist’s tosses.

So how did this kid get to this point?

Through that rare combination of talent, work ethic and desire.

His eyes are on the Olympics. A lot of stellar athletes claim the same, but they don’t have the conviction to get there.

This kid does.

Geist stopped playing football — a sport he was awfully good at and likely would have received scholarship offers in — to focus on his dream of competing in the Olympics in the shot put.

That dream is fast becoming reality.

Few high school athletes in the country — if anybody — can match Geist’s top distances in the shot put. And he’s far from a one-shot wonder. He’s throwing these top distances repeatedly.

The talent is clearly there. So is the work ethic. Geist works on his craft all the time and works on his body to go with it. It doesn’t hurt that Knoch’s throwing coach — Just Geist — happens to be his mother.

And that conviction, so rare in any young athlete, is so prevalent in him. Even when Geist breaks a record, whether it’s school, state or national, he doesn’t lose his edge. He wants to throw farther. He always wants more.

Few athletes in recent Butler County history compare to Geist in terms of possessing all of those tools. Seneca Valley and Slippery Rock University offensive lineman Brandon Fusco had themn and he’s got a multi-year contract with the Minnesota Vikings now.

Butler diver David Pichler and late swimmer Eric Namesnik got to the Olympics through tireless training to go with their skills in the water.

Butler soccer standout Meghan Schnur never stopped working on her game, even after making the United States national team.

You always hear of young “phenoms” coming up through various school systems in different sports. It often appears that the sky is the limit for them. Some burn out on the sport, others level off when they reach a certain age.

Jordan Geist is a junior in high school and still has the motor humming in all of the positive categories.

The sky’s the limit?

I don’t think anything is going to limit this kid.

John Enrietto is sports editor of the Butler Eagle