Before beginning his sprint down the runway, South (Shawnee Mission, Kan.) thrower Johannes Swanepoel takes a moment to breathe deep and visualize the outcome of each javelin toss from his approach to the throw.
Then he lets it fly.
That practice has served the Raider senior well, as Swanepoel will try for his third straight Class 6A state gold medal later this month at the Kansas state track and field meet in Wichita. As he gears up to defend the past two Class 6A titles, Swanepoel took some time to reminisce about one of his great sports moments.
"It was shocking," Swanepoel recalled of the seconds following his gold medal-clinching and school-record throw of 221 feet, 2 inches at the 2008 state meet. "I didn’t know what to do. It was unreal. I couldn’t believe it. Once the guy announced the number … I realized I could throw it far.
"That was a pretty big moment. I believe it opened up some opportunities for me."
Swanepoel clinched one such opportunity earlier this year when he signed a letter of intent to throw for the University of Kansas and head coach Stanley Redwine in 2010-11. He chose the Big 12 school over Florida, Mississippi, New Mexico and Texas.
In throwing for the Jayhawks, Swanepoel gets the best of both worlds in staying close to home and competing for one of the best throwing coaches in the country in Andy Kokhanovsky. While he works on his technique daily, Swanepoel has also developed an uncanny ability to dissect any failures in his technique before he moves on to the next throw.
Just ask Raider head track and field coach J.J. Wannamaker.
"He’s a sharp guy when it comes to the javelin," Wannamaker said of Swanepoel. "If I ask him what he did wrong, he points out what he did wrong. It really helps to know what it feels like from their perspective."
Even before the javelin reaches its peak height, the 6-foot, 184-pounder has a keen awareness as to the success of his latest attempt.
"Usually I know when I have a good one," Swanepoel said of his post-throw instincts. "A throw of 220 usually feels like one going 200 because the technique was right. When you have a throw like that you don’t feel a lot of stress on your body.
"When everything goes as planned, and the technique is perfect, the jav is one of the most beautiful sports. Power, speed and endurance are combined into a couple of seconds of pure adrenaline."
While track and field is his bread and butter sport for now, Swanepoel grew up competing on the cricket and rugby fields of South Africa. The ruggedness of football is also a draw to the Raider running back/kicker. A bowler (the pitcher in cricket), Swanepoel’s coach Brian Kemp foresaw a future for him throwing the javelin, and began training him.
"He saw that I was a fast pitcher," Swanepoel said of Kemp, "and he thought that would translate into being a good javelin thrower."
About six months after working with Kemp, Swanepoel moved to Kansas with his parents Louis and Jacobie, both CVS pharmacists, and brothers Louis II and J.P. He then continued throwing and working on his technique. Although Swanepoel had been competing on a local rugby club team, Wannamaker recently had to ban his participation in the sport due to an injury.
"He’s a pretty passionate rugby player," Wannamaker said. "We had to reign him back."
While the aggressiveness he takes away from the rugby field helps Swanepoel attack the javelin runway, the rolled ankle he encountered recently slowed his progress throughout the season. Still, Wannamaker has a gut feeling that Swanepoel has a throw of 230 in him this season.
"I think he’s ready to break through," Wannamaker said. "Under the right conditions, 230 is a possibility, maybe even better. He’s still building and working on some technique issues. He doesn’t see the best throwers, so it’s hard for him to get that push."
Besides working on his technique daily, Swanepoel spends the majority of his time on Wednesdays throwing – trying to launch anywhere from six to 20 throws out around the 200-205-foot mark.
Swanepoel, who is also available to run sprints or on the relays when needed, appeared to be in top form in mid-April when he unleashed a throw of 215-8 1/2 to win the Kansas Relays in Lawrence, putting him atop the national leader boards at the time. Now he sits anywhere from third to sixth nationally, depending on the board.
Swanepoel’s biggest challenger at the Class 6A state meet appears to be Manhattan thrower Ivan Hartung, who has a season-best toss of 190-8. Olathe East’s Justin Schmidt and Brent Guiser stand third and fourth on the Class 6A leader boards with throws of 184-0 and 183-3, respectively.
