TUSCON, Ariz. — The last two years have not gone exactly to plan for Jordan Geist.

Between the shutdown forced by the coronavirus pandemic last season and his own battle with COVID-19 this winter, the Knoch graduate and junior thrower on the University of Arizona track and field team has faced more than his fair share of adversity.

“You know, it's been really tough,” Geist said. “The whole indoor season and most of my outdoor season has been pretty rough in regards to finding my timing in a meet.”

Geist experienced very few hiccups while at Knoch where if there was a record to be broken in the throws, “the Knochness Monster” most likely shattered them.

Geist was a two-time PA Gatorade Player of the Year (2016 and 2017), was a six-time WPIAL champion, won a national title at the New Balance Outdoor Championships in the shot and has a high school world record in the shot as well.

His career at Arizona started out without a hitch, too, with a fifth-place finish in the shot put at the NCAA Track and Field Championships as a freshman in 2018 and a third-place finish at the same meet as a sophomore in 2019.

But when the pandemic hit, things began to unravel for Geist.

He was able to stay in shape and work out, but wasn't able to throw and hone his mechanics as much as he would have liked.

He also had to put on hold his quest to make the United States Olympic team.

When things began again in earnest, Geist had a lot of rust to shake off.

By early December he was beginning to feel like his old self, but then Geist tested positive for COVID-19 and moved into quarantine.

“I wasn't able to train for almost three weeks,” Geist said. “All the progress I made up to that point was pretty much lost. I had to start over.”

Geist had few symptoms from the virus.

“I had a cough for a day,” he said.

But the layoff cost him precious time.

It's been a long process to build himself back up again.

“For three to four solid months, I've just been trying to piece things together,” Geist said. “And just inch by inch I'm finally starting to see improvement.”

As difficult as things have been for Geist, he's still putting up results. The monster is roaring again.

Despite the tumult, Geist recently won the Pac-12 championship in the shot put for the third consecutive time. Only six throwers in conference history have accomplished that feat.

He threw 20.35 meters, which equates to 66 feet, 9¼ inches to win his latest title.

Geist also was second in the hammer throw and eighth in the discus at the Pac-12 championships. He was named Pac-12 Men's Field Athlete of the Year for the second time.

Not bad considering what Geist has had to overcome.

“It's definitely a big confidence-booster,” Geist said. “The body has always been there. It was just always about trying to find the timing and clean up a few technical things. And now I'm starting to see the payoff from all the hard work I've had to put in over these few months just to get the timing back.”

Geist said there is still work to do before the NCAA championships roll around beginning June 9.

And then there is the Olympic Trials just a week later.

“From here on, it's reinforcing the things I'm doing well and then just trying to fine tune a few other things,” Geist said. “It's trying to get a little more height in the shot. The ball speed is there — I have a lot of power on the ball, but a lot of trouble finding the right angle. I'm throwing really flat right now. I should be able to clean that up.”

Geist admitted that these trying times have weighed on him mentally.

“I knew I would eventually face some adversity. It was just a matter of time,” Geist said. “My coach did a really good job helping me mentally during practice. And every once in awhile I would reach out to (former Olympian) Ryan Whiting and he was able to help me a lot with the mental side, too, just because he's gone through a lot of ups and downs in his career.”

Geist is hoping his downs are over and there's nothing left but ups, both at the NCAA championships and the Olympic Trials.

“Americans are really good in the shot,” Geist said. “I'm just trying to put together a throw that I can be proud of.”