It was only three years ago that Long Beach State’s two-time Big West Field Athlete of the Week, Ben Woodruff, first picked up a javelin.
Now in his second season with Long Beach States track and field team, the senior ranks ninth in nation, third in the Big West Conference and second in LBSU’s record books for the javelin toss.
On March 31, 2012 during the Cal/Nevada Championships, Woodruff claimed the men’s javelin toss title with a career-best 235-10 (71.88m), just two feet shy of breaking former 49er Doug Lefler’s conference record. Lefler established the Big West mark of 237-02 (72.29m) back in 2004.
In honor of Woodruff’s win, he was named Big West Field Athlete of the Week, a title he had claimed earlier in the season after he threw 235-02 (71.68m) at the Beach Classic.
However, Woodruff pointed out that claiming that title was no walk in the park.
“It takes hard work and drive,” he said. “I have to come out here everyday, stay positive and tell myself I have the talent to do it.”
The senior began competing in the field event during his third year at El Camino College. After completing one season as a pitcher on the Warriors baseball team, Woodruff realized that he needed something unique to seal him a spot on the LBSU transfer list.
“Baseball was my thing, but I wasn’t sure how well that was going to work out for me,” Woodruff said. “It’s so difficult to set yourself apart and I needed something that I could transfer with.”
In search of something different, a friend of Woodruff’s suggested that he try out for the Warriors track and field team as a javelin thrower.
“I thought why not? If I’m any good at it I’ll stick with it if not then whatever,” he said.
He was good at it.
That season at El Camino, Woodruff finished second in the conference, fifth at the state championships and ranks fourth in school history with a toss of 185-01.
Woodruff credited his smooth transition from the baseball diamond to the javelin toss to his time spent on the mound.
“Being a pitcher for so many years it wasn’t hard to transition from pitching to throwing a javelin,” he said. “But it [pitching] also gave me a lot of bad habits.”
The Redondo Beach native explained that unlike pitching where the ball is thrown in a straight line or down, launching the javelin needs air in between so that the spear can soar through the sky.
“Pitching gave me a really strong arm,” he said “But I still struggle with those bad habits [of throwing the javelin like a baseball] to this day. It’s like my gift and my curse at the same time.”
Being true to his sport, Woodruff has forced himself to steer clear of any baseballs during the 2012 season.
“It hurts [to stay away from playing baseball] but it just becomes too easy to fall back into those bad habits,” he said.
While it is apparent that the six-foot senior dedicates most of his time to practice because the javelin toss is no light lifting.
“Javelin is so hard on your body, that every time you throw correctly it feels like you were just in a car accident on the freeway,” Woodruff said.
The action of throwing the javelin alone is so strenuous on the body, that the senior only dedicates about one hour, two days a week to throwing the big stick.
Between throwing, weight lifting, practicing drills and footwork drills and attending class, Woodruff finds it hard to manage a part-time job at Saint Rocke, a live music venue in Hermosa Beach where he works as a production assistant.
While Woodruff pointed out that his managers do not know much about the javelin toss, they support him and are always cheering him on in all of his events.
One day, Woodruff hopes that he will throw far enough to make it to the Olympic Trials.
“Making it to the Olympic Trials is what fuels me everyday,” he said.