SOU star tutors Ashland throwers

ASHLAND -- Like most track athletes this time of year, Ashland High junior Nick Bakke's season grows more serious with each passing day.

Each practice, each toss of the javelin brings him closer to days of reckoning: first, the Southern Oregon Conference meet May 21 and 23 and then -- if things go his way -- the Class 4A state meet May 29-30.

Jim Hagemann knows the feeling. He, too, is preparing for a period of javelin judgment. Hagemann, a senior at Southern Oregon University, is ranked third in the nation heading into the NAIA Championships May 21-23 in Tulsa, Okla.

After his daily workouts, Hagemann heads for Ashland High to tutor Bakke and the Grizzlies' other throwers as an assistant coach.

"It's been a lot of help because he's at the next level and I can see how that is," Bakke says of Hagemann's aid. "It's kind of like a coach-athlete relationship, but it's more like friends."

"He's really coachable," says Hagemann, adding that he's more apt to offer advice to Bakke than to dictate hard-and-fast ways of doing things. "We break it down, and he has a good knowledge of it now."

That much is evident from Bakke's marks this season. His best of 191 feet, 5 inches ranks fifth in the state and is the top mark among SOC throwers.

"I haven't been improving as much as I'd like, but I've been improving steadily," Bakke says.

He finished fourth in the SOC last season with a mark of 177, although he says he threw 186 shortly after the season in a Junior Olympics meet.

While the javelin is his best event, it's not the only one in which he's made strides this season. His shot put mark of 50-11 ranks among the SOC's best. He was sixth at last year's district meet with a throw of 46-7.

"He has phenomenal explosion for a kid his size," says Grizzlies' shot put coach Kekoa Peterson. "But he still has good mechanics, which is important because it's a technical event, not just a strength event.

"He's the more technical-type thrower, more than a brute-strength thrower. But that will come with time."

The technical advances in both events have certainly helped Bakke, but weightlifting has also played a key role.

"The main thing is he's gotten a lot stronger and a lot bigger," says Ashland track coach Bob Julian.

Football deserves much of the credit for that, Bakke says. He played linebacker and offensive tackle last season and participated in the team's off-season football weight program.

"The lifting definitely helps me," he says.

Peterson, also a freshman football assistant, says that football training applies to nearly every sport and, because football is so big in Ashland, the track program has tried to take advantage of that.

Bakke has an opportunity to become the first Grizzly in the 25 years that Julian's been there to win the SOC title in both the shot put and the javelin. His goal is to make the state meet in both; he narrowly missed going in both events a year ago.

At state, he knows his best chance to place is in the javelin.

"My goal this year is 200 (feet)," he says.

That mark would have placed third in the state last year.

"I want to finish in the top three or five in state," says Bakke.

One of the challenges Bakke will face if he reaches the state meet is a big-meet atmosphere, something Hagemann dealt with in finishing second at last year's NAIA national championships.

His advice for Bakke?

"Just concentrate on what you know and it will take care of itself," says Hagemann.

That kind of practical experience and advice has proved valuable to Bakke.

"I think Jim's very responsible for bringing him along," says Julian.

Hagemann says Bakke isn't the only one who has benefited from the relationship.

"It helps both of us out," he says, noting that breaking things down for Bakke helps hone his own understanding of the event.

Hagemann finished seventh in the state in the javelin in 1994 during his senior year at Ashland. Now, he wants to be surpassed by his pupil.