Check out "Throwing Deep" a blog by South Portland thrower Daniel Guiliani. Guiliani was the Class A shot put champion outdoors and finished second in the New England Championship a year. Follow his journey to break the state all-time best this winter.
Hey everyone!
I had a blast at Dartmouth Relays! The wide range of competition, the environment, time with my family the night before. Just a wonderful experience. I threw a big PR of 58'7.5", and closing in on 60'. The last couple weeks of practice, I've thrown 61' consistently and even had one measured out to 63'. So I know I have it in me, I just need to show up and get an even bigger throw out there.
My form is starting to really come together. At the beginning of the year to now, my first step and speed has improved a ton. But looking at the end of my throws, I haven't been extending all too well, and it's taking away a lot of distance. That has been my main focus in practice, and another thing I'm really keying in on is staying much lower. I tend to keep my legs rather straight at the start of my throws, and finish at the same height, so not much explosion at the end. Speed and upper body strength I feel is what has been sending my throws so far. I'll have two weeks to incorporate those two things in practice, and I believe I'm going to have some big throws at south westerns and States.
I was excited to see my teammate Mike Cuesta excel at the dartmouth relays as well!
He placed 8th in the Long Jump and jumped 44+ in the triple jump to place second. Both times I've been out of state to compete, Cuesta has been there with me and we both did very well (Outdoor New Englands was the other). I think we push each other to do great things in big meets even though we do different events. I remember last year, indoors, at states, Mike on his final attempt with the triple jump already won, went and jumped 45'4", the second best mark in state meet history, and that really taught me the way to compete at highly competitive meets. That moment kind of clicked into my mind at dartmouth. I had already won with a 55-3, and it was my final attempt, but I took that opportunity to break a 40 year old school record, so I have to thank him for giving me a great display of how to compete at championships and big events.
Good luck to anyone competing within these next couple of weeks!
-Daniel Guiliani
