SLIPPERY ROCK — On the bus ride home from a track and field meet at Greenville April 23, Slippery Rock High track and field coach Tony Consbruck presented senior Ryan Northcott with a simple question.

“Where the heck have you been for the last three years?” Consbruck asked.

The answer was simple. For three years, Northcott insisted he was a baseball player. He turned his back on the family business — picking up a javelin, discus or shot put and heaving it.

His sister, Bre, did that. His mother, Mary, also did that at Moniteau High School in her youth.

Northcott just began doing it this season. Bre, who hounded him for three years to “throw stuff” at track meets, finally won.

Northcott has thrown the javelin 156 feet this season, despite very little practice or form. At the meet in Greenville, he tossed the discus 123 feet, 6 inches despite not touching one since middle school.

He turned to his coach on this bus ride and answered Consbruck.

“I'm a good baseball player,” Northcott said.

“But you're a great track athlete,” Consbruck replied.

And he can be even better.

“It's kind of scary how far he can go,” Consbruck said. “I mean, for crying out loud, he just picked up a discus and flung it 123 feet from a power position. Wait until he gets the spin down.”

Northcott is a bit more polished in the javelin. His throw puts him in good position to compete for a District 10 Class AAA championship and a trip to the PIAA Track and Field Championships in Shippensburg at the end of May.

“He legitimately can aspire to win a district championship,” Consbruck said.

Northcott said he joined the track team this season just so he could throw the javelin.

“I thought it would be fun,” he said.

Now his goals have gone far beyond simple enjoyment.

“I definitely think there is a large room for improvement,” Northcott said. “I don't really have much form. I just kind of go out there and chuck it.

“I'd like to break the school record,” he added. “I'd like to go to the state meet in both.”

There's another thing that runs in the Northcott family: torn ACLs.

Bre has had three. Their father blew out his knee several times as well.

Northcott suffered his last summer, wiping out his football season. The thought was his basketball season would be a casualty, too, but he returned to full health in just four months after surgery instead of the six-plus months initially thought.

The injury may have been a blessing in disguise for Northcott, who used the time to rehab hard in the weight room.

He added muscle, which has helped his throws this track season.

“I lifted and worked hard every day,” Northcott said. “I put on a lot of muscle and got a lot stronger.”

Consbruck is being cautious with Northcott.

“As of now, things are OK,” said Consbruck, who watched Bre get off to a fast start in the javelin last year only to suffer another knee injury. “We're not going to push it.”

Northcott now wonders what could have been had he participated in track the last three years.

“I feel like I would already be so much further along in the sport,” he said.