THROWING DOWN THE GAUNTLET
Hilltoppers sophomore aims for gold and a new school record
Rebecca Green is pretty blunt about what she sees in her throwing future Los Alamos. The sophomore, who already has an individual state gold medal for shot put last year, wants to add a few more to the collection, starting with next month’s state meet.
“I want to win state in both every year from here on out,” she said referring to shot and discus.
And, oh, by the way, Green also would like to knock school record-holder Chase Eeley off the top rung in shot put.
Eeley, who went on to throw at Oklahoma State and finished seventh in the Olympic Trials in 2016, putted the shot 47 feet, 3 inches in 2012 — also a class-level state record. Green has already chucked it 39-8 at a meet this season, ranking second in Hilltoppers history.
“We need to fine tune some stuff, keep working hard,” said Los Alamos throws coach Bob Scott. “My goal for her as a senior is 50 feet in the shot and 150 feet in the discus. If we can get there, I would be happy. I think that would help her as far as going to the next level.”
Already an all-district performer in basketball, Green said she wants to either throw or play hoops, or preferably do both at the college level.
“Basketball, you get more into it,” she said. “You get more exercise and it’s intense, but shot put is more calm. I like both of them the same.”
Green is coming off a winning performance at discus at Monday’s Marilyn Sepulveda Invitational that pitted the top performers from around the state regardless of class.
Her throw of 128-10 was three inches better than Silver’s Aysia Salas, who bested Green in the shot put 40-0½ to 39-2.
Green’s dad jump-started her throwing career in the seventh grade.
“My dad just told me to try because I’m a big, stocky girl, so he said go try it,” she said. “I didn’t lose in shot put in seventh or eighth grade.”
The Hilltoppers didn’t really have a throwing coach, so Green turned to technology to help her learn the techniques.
“I looked up videos and tutorials online,” she said.
It was during her eighthgrade year that Green caught Scott’s attention and he brought her up to varsity for the District 2-5A meet.
Green took second in shot put to earn a state berth, finishing seventh, one spot off the medal stand.
“Once we saw Becca, we said, ‘We’ve got something special here,’” Scott said.
Green’s work ethic both on the field and off is what gives her a chance to succeed, he said.
“The nice thing that helps Becca is she loves to lift weights,” he said. “She’s very strong, very quick.”
As a matter of fact, Green can pick things up and put them down with proclivity, recording a 290-pound deadlift.
“It helps my body get stronger, and I think I get better at basketball and track,” she said.
What also helps with her throws is her attention to detail. She’ll study videos of technique, and go back and practice her turns and spins 100 times or more per daily practice.
“I just try to fix some things that need to be fixed,” Green said with a shrug.