In the final meet of his high school career, senior Brody Schimmel broke a 41-year-old school record for the javelin by throwing 171 feet, 10 inches at the Patriot Plunker Invitational yesterday at John Jay High School in East Fishkill.
The old record (167′ .5″) was held by Erik Oley, the son of legendary Irvington track coach and track namesake Peter Oley. Schimmel currently ranks number two in the state in the javelin, less than four feet from the leader who also threw a personal best at the meet to regain the lead after Schimmel temporarily held the top spot.
“Brody Schimmel leaves Irvington as the greatest javelin thrower in school history. Brody‘s hard work, commitment, self-belief, and dedication to the event is what led to him setting the school record by almost five feet,” said throws coach Mr. Mike McQuillan. “Brody trusted me as a coach to put him in the best situations, and I trusted him to take his training seriously. It culminated in arguably the best javelin season in school history. Finishing second at Loucks, winning the county championship, and setting the school record all in one year.”
“I am so proud of Brody, and I will miss him dearly next year!”
This is the third school record broken this spring by the Bulldog boys track and field squad, with Schimmel joining senior Ethan Gartlan (3200m) and the distance medley relay team of Gartlan, Declan Lyons, Glen Feng and Aaron Portnoy on the school record big board (which hangs in the hallway next to the Maher gym).
Schimmel will attend the University of Colorado this fall, and has no plans at the moment to continue his javelin career in college. However, he currently boasts a mark that would make him recruitment and walk-on eligible, according to recruiting site Runcruit.com. According to the UC track website, the Buffaloes’ top javelin thrower is graduating senior, Gustavo Alfonso, whose best throw is 65.8 meters (or just under 216 feet).
