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March 10, 2009

CANYON, Texas - Dane Hamrick, a freshman shot putter at West Texas A&M, is out-throwing his competition. Many people may not have heard of him, because Hamrick is a member of the new track & field program at WTAMU, but his early performances have been noteworthy.

Hamrick went to Amarillo High School, and began competing in the shot put. During that initial season of competition, he won first place in every district meet. Then, when Hamrick went to the regional meet, he placed third.

Hamrick decided to come to WT because he had heard that the track & field program was being resurrected.

"WT is very close to home," said Hamrick. "It is also the perfect-sized university that I wanted to go to. It's not too big or too small."

Hamrick has come out strong in every meet so far, and has produced by being in the top five in every meet thus far. At his final indoor meet at Oklahoma University, Hamrick recorded a third-place finish, recording a personal best of 50-02.

"We've made progressions every week that we have competed," said Head Track and Field Coach Darren Flowers. "Dane went from throwing in the 46-foot range his first time out and threw just over 51 feet this past week. Progress is great to see and he is getting better all the time."

Hamrick said that his preparation for competition days involves a hearty breakfast, a really good warm-up, and listening to music right before he throws.

"My teammates also help when they all come and support me," said Hamrick. "We all watch each other competed."

Hamrick said that when he graduates college, his goal is to be able to make it on the US Olympic team.

"I definitely think that Dane has the potential to be a national championship contender in the future," said Coach Flowers. "Many things need to go right for that to happen, but he is the type of young man that can do it."

The WT track & field team trains three to four days a week along with three days of weight training sessions under Coach Ryan Mahoney. Their Head Coach is Darren Flowers, who is also the assistant coach for the cross country team. Flowers has an extensive background of over 15 years in the sport of track & field as either a competitor, an official, or coach and holds a USA Track and Field Level II certification in distance events (800m-Marathon).

"Coach Flowers has really helped me with my training," said Hamrick. "And, even though he has never competed in shot-putting himself, he has done a lot of research towards coaching me and helping my training."