Finishing second to Geist isn’t all that bad

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Jordan Geist is the most formidable foe in U.S. high school shot putting.

He carries a shovel with him to outdoor meets so he can dig out the 12-pound ball after it sails past the 70foot marker and plummets into the grass beyond the gravel pit.

His warm-up throws — made without his usual prethrow spin — travel farther than most of his opponents’ in-competition throws.

He’s 28 inches away from setting an official U.S. high school record of 77 feet, 1 inch after throwing a personal best 74 feet, 9 inches Friday at the Baldwin Invitational — a distance more than 16 feet farther than the long throw of Cathedral Prep’s Cameron Landis, who finished in second place.

Hempfield senior Alex Murray put it simply: “No one touches him.”

That untouchable dominance must be disheartening to Geist’s top competition, right? Just the opposite, actually.

“Mentally he just elevates me to another level,” said Murray, who finished in third place Friday. “He’s made me a better thrower because he opens your eyes to what’s possible. He lets me know I have higher capabilities than I thought.”

Competing against someone as dominant as Geist was “demoralizing at first,” Murray said. He had aspirations of becoming a state champion shot putter and adding his name to a long list of Hempfield state track and field champs.

“Now I’ve accepted that probably isn’t going to happen,” he said. “I’m going up against the best in the world.”

Like Murray, South Fayette junior Sam Mastro was initially disheartened but now views Geist’s presence as the ultimate motivator.

“It’s not as discouraging as you might think seeing a guy throw over 60 feet casually,” the Baldwin Invitational’s fifth-place finisher said. “It actually makes you better naturally.”

Unlike Murray, Mastro will have a year of Geistless competition next season after the University of Arizona commit graduates — something Mastro is “definitely looking forward to.”

For now, though, Mastro and a few others aren’t just benefiting from Geist’s dominance at competitions, which Hempfield shot put coach Dave Murray said “creates an energy that all the guys feed off of.” A small group works out and practices with Geist a couple times each week.

“He tells us stuff in practice. He shows us what it takes to be great,” said Mastro, who called it “an honor to practice with a future Olympian.”

Murray said he enjoys “throwing against the best in the world” and added that Geist is as great a person as he is a shot putter.

“He couldn’t be a nicer, more humble guy. I don’t even think he swears,” Murray said. “We all love Jordan.”