Big River Feature Interview: James Coleman

Big River Running Company co-owner Ben Rosario is now writing cross country and track articles for St. Louis Scoop Magazine. You can read his articles in the magazine as well. Ben caught up with James after the State Meet at which the Mustang junior won the Discus and was third place in the Shot Put.

In Track and Field the difference between winning and losing can be a hundredth of a second or a fraction of an inch. Defeats by the lean of a torso or a dash on a measuring tape are commonplace and can be tough to swallow. Luckily for Marquette junior James Coleman he doesn't let it get that close.

At this spring's State Track and Field Championships Coleman won his primary event, the discus, by two feet over rival John Petroff of Parkway Central. The victory capped off an undefeated season for Coleman who said that he loves to compete and loves to win.

“Not to be cocky but I was undefeated going into the meet and for me losing or getting second place was unacceptable,” Coleman said. “I also wanted to win it for Coach [Tony] Edwards.”

Keep in mind that all this confidence comes from an athlete who had never even picked up a discus until his freshman year. Coleman had thrown the shot put in middle school but as a freshman football player it was Edwards, a football coach as well, who pulled Coleman aside and told him he had a throwers body and that he wanted him to come out for track.

Edwards said he saw something in Coleman the very first week of football practice.

“After so many years of coaching football and track I kind of have an eye for these things,” Edwards said. “I saw James and I said, ‘I bet you he could throw a shot or a discus.”

As it turned out he could do both. Coleman added a third place finish in the shot put to his victory in the discus only two and half years after Coach Edwards' prediction.

Coach Edwards and the Marquette track team are used to having athletes on the top of the podium at the State Meet. Edwards has coached many great Mustang throwers, none more familiar in the track and field community than Amarachi Ukabam who won the women's discus at the 2004 USATF Junior Championships, was a Junior Pan American Games champion, a many-time NCAA All-American and still holds the Missouri State Championships record at 165-01.

Edwards said that there are several things that have come together for Coleman that just may put him in the same class as Ukabam

“He's an athlete with quick feet,” Edwards said “He's also able to lift 300 pounds off the floor and his work ethic has really improved.

Perhaps it is that improved work ethic that has turned Coleman into such a perfectionist. So much so that Coleman said he was actually disappointed in his throws at the State Meet.

“They were disastrous really,” Coleman said. “My best was 184 and I only threw 178 at State but like my coach says when you're a good thrower even your bad throws are pretty good throws.”

Coleman will definitely need some pretty good throws to accomplish his goals for 2008.

Those include becoming the first St. Louis area thrower to top the 200 foot mark in the discus and breaking the State Meet record of 201-4 set by Lee's Summit North's Chris Rohr in 2004.

Petroff's coach at Parkway Central, Ryan Banta, said he thinks the sky is the limit for Coleman as well as his own athlete.

“This year, for both of them, it was their mental prep that helped them achieve unheard of success at both the shot and discus,” Banta said. “I think it's a very realistic possibility that [next year] both John and James flirt mightily with the state record.”

Maybe Coleman's confidence comes from what the sports media call “that football mentality.” Coleman does play offensive and defensive tackle for the Mustang gridiron squad in the fall. Coleman said it's not necessarily his football prowess that helps him on the track, but rather his love for the sport.

“I think it's just being passionate about what I do,” Coleman said.

In a sport like track and field that is full of ups and downs being passionate helps Coleman stay focused on competition day even if practice does not go so well.

“There are times during the week that I throw terrible, but like I tell my coach I might as well get it out of the way now,” Coleman said.

After all, it is the competition that counts and Coleman seems to have a pretty good streak going on those days. Coleman's main competition this year came from Petroff, who Coleman said was the only thrower he feared could take his hopes of a State Title away.

“I had thrown against him a lot,” Coleman said. “At State I knew it was going to be a showdown again.”

Banta, said that their State Battle was the apex of the rivalry they had developed all season long.

“Both John and James are super competitive,” Banta said. “When they would step in the ring against one another it was all business and they both wanted to keep pushing that discus farther and farther. If anything the experience these two shared battling each other is only going to break more records.”

Coleman and Petroff are both juniors so the stage is set for an exciting year of throws in 2008. Beyond that, Coleman said he would like to continue his track career in college.

Coleman said he is looking at the University of Missouri as well as Southern Illinois University at Carbondale as possible college choices. A likely engineering major Coleman said he loves science. For now though, he has one more year of being a high school student-athlete, another season of football and another season to spin around the ring and launch the discus farther than anyone in the State of Missouri ever has.

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