TRACK & FIELD: Proving his worth despite
odds
Brown walked on to track
team his freshman year, but dedication has helped him climb WSU record books
By RYAN BLAKE, Evergreen April 19, 2018
Sometimes coaches know
talent when they see it. That was the case for Amani Brown, a redshirt junior
hammer thrower on the WSU track and field team.
Brown walked on the team as
a freshman, having never thrown hammer before college. He had experience in discus
and shotput in high school, but was told by WSU coaches he was best suited for
hammer after trying out.
Technique is a crucial part
of the hammer throw. Brute strength alone will not bring home medals. Brown
said he has spent the past four years trying to refine his craft in order to
compete among the best.
“You can be as strong as
you want,” Brown said, “but that doesn’t mean you know how to turn it into
making it actually go far against people that know how to make it go far and
use their strength.”
Picking up an event after
many other competitors have been training for years was a large barrier for
Brown, but Associate Head Coach Julie Taylor said he was adept at it.
“The learning curve all
depends on the type of athlete you are coaching,” Taylor said. “[Brown] is a
good athlete and he is very coachable. So even though he had never thrown a
hammer before he came to WSU, he was able to pick up the technique quickly.”
Taylor said the biggest
focus for Brown is controlling his power with his technique, something he has
improved since starting at WSU.
Brown said his confidence
in throwing has improved thanks to his hard work at WSU. Continuing to push
himself every practice has paid off in placing as one of the best throwers in
the Pac-12.
“With any craft, with any
sport, the older you get the more you realize that other people are also
getting better as well,” Brown said. “In order to keep up with them and in
order to continue to get better, you got to work hard even on the smallest of
things.”
Taylor said Brown is not
just physically capable of being a great thrower, but also diligent in his
analysis of his technique. She said she occasionally has to advise him to just
throw and stop thinking so much.
Despite competing in an
individual sport, Brown said he and his teammates always push each other to get
better. The close-knit group of hammer throwers practices like it’s a
competition to create an atmosphere that allows each athlete to tap into their
potential.
“At the end of the day,
it’s all about us getting better,” Brown said. “We all motivate each other, we
all want each other to do the best. Even when other teams aren’t throwing as
far as us, we turn it into a competition between each other.”
It has not always been easy
for Brown, though. He said there were times when he thought he might give up
throwing, but his mom and his sister helped support him. They gave him the
confidence to continue working toward a spot in the WSU history books.
Brown said if he continues
to improve, he hopes to someday get a chance as a professional thrower, and
Taylor believes he has the potential.
“The sky is the limit for
Amani. I believe he can be a
national-caliber hammer and weight thrower,” Taylor said. “The cool thing is he
still can improve and refine his technique to see even more gains. Not bad for a kid who walked on to our team.”
Brown said he ultimately
just wants to throw far, and he’s come a long way from his early days as a walk
on.
“I felt like I had the
strength to do it, I just didn’t have the technique to do it,” Brown said. “Now
I’m at the point where things are starting to come together and starting to
click, and technique and strength is working out.”
::::::::
FOOTBALL
Texas QB tells CFC after
WSU trip: 'You can't beat the Air Raid'
Cougar coaches and Pullman
make impact on Maverick McIvor out of Texas
By Braulio Perez
Cougfan.com 4/24/23018
(Only headlines and byline available
to News for CougGroup.)
::::::::::::::
WSU Baseball
Coug Parker McFadden Named
Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week
From WSU Sports Info
SAN FRANCISCO – Junior
Parker McFadden was named the Pac-12 Conference Pitcher of the Week, the
conference office announced Monday.
McFadden threw the first
five innings as four Cougar pitchers combined to no-hit Santa Clara in a 5-0
win Sunday, clinching a series sweep. It was the second no-hitter for WSU this
season after Scotty Sunitsch no-hit Oregon April 8 and the first time WSU has
thrown a pair of no-hitters in the same season since the 1976 College World
Series team also threw two.
McFadden struck out four,
walked two and hit one batter in route to his first win of 2018. The Yelm,
Wash. native retired the final eight batters he faced before giving way to
sophomore lefthander A.J. Block to start the sixth. Block worked 1.1 innings
and senior Collin Maier followed with 0.2 innings before Ryan Walker closed
things out with the final two innings.
McFadden also worked 1.1
scoreless innings at Gonzaga last Tuesday, striking out three along the way.
For the week, McFadden did not allow a run in his two appearances and totaled
seven strikeouts in 6.1 no-hit innings.
Parker earns WSU's second
Pac-12 weekly award of 2018 after Sunitsch earned the same honor April 9.
::::::::::::::::
DOWNTOWN PULLMAN
A new angle on downtown
parking in Pullman
Evolve on Main project has
business owners looking for more spaces
By Scott Jackson, Moscow
Pullman Daily News
April 24, 2018
Evolve on Main - a
five-story building in Pullman's downtown with a 41,500-square-foot footprint -
is expected to be completed this fall, and it has business owners questioning
how the structure will limit parking in the downtown corridor.
According to developers,
the new building will include 83 apartments with 290 bedrooms and just 112
parking spaces.
Downtown parking is already
causing enough difficulty for motorists looking for a spot that the Pullman
Police Department and City Council are considering hiking the price of parking
infractions as a way to deter repeat offenders, and code enforcement officers
are being hired to assist with parking enforcement.
Bryce Erickson, owner of
B&L Bicycles, said the addition of Evolve on Main could further strain
downtown infrastructure.
"Critical mass is
happening with the Evolve on Main," Erickson said. "This is going to
come to a head here real quick because the first 10 tenants that bring cars
that aren't supposed to bring cars are going to start clogging up the parking
spots further."
City Councilor Pat Wright,
who operates a business downtown, said more needs to be done than increasing the
fines.
"There are a lot of
moving parts with this whole thing, with the end result being better
parking," Wright said. "We've got to address the issues and try to
come up with some reasonable solutions, not just increase the fines to get
better compliance."
The lack of parking has
some considering angled parking in Pullman's downtown - an idea that has been
tossed around for years.
Erickson, also a member of
the Downtown Association's Transportation Committee, said an ideal change to
downtown parking would be to convert one side of Main Street into angled
parking and cut Main Street to two lanes of traffic going both ways.
"That allows the
highest access of customers coming into your stores," Erickson said,
noting part of the problem is that the city has little control over the design
of its major thoroughfares.
He said since Main Street
is officially a part of the State Highway System, any augmentation to the
roadway must go through the Washington State Department of Transportation.
The DOT may not be open to losing
an entire lane of traffic, Erickson said. He said one solution would be to
create a bypass route for the DOT to redesignate as a state highway. Erickson
said a proposed south bypass route has been in the city's cross-hairs for some
time.
Pullman Public Works
Director Kevin Gardes said while angled parking seems like an attractive
option, he would like to see more data gathered before the city decides to
redesign downtown parking. Gardes said it is possible the DOT may even concur
with their findings if they can provide compelling enough evidence.
"They would have to
see the data, just like we would want to see how is it going to affect traffic
and what are the unintended consequences," Gardes said. "There are a
lot of moving parts to this, and getting a couple extra parking spaces is good
for downtown, but what is the cost of that?"
Gardes said Evolve on
Main's argument to the city was that evolving demographics in the regions they
have studied are relying less on private transportation in recent years. Gardes
said the developers have also taken steps to limit residential impact on street
parking, like obligating leaseholders to park a specified distance away. But
will it be enough?
"That's a
question," Gardes said.
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