Gresham's Haley Crouser will factor in five events for the Gophers this year.GRESHAM --
sees the big picture, and it doesn't faze her.
Which is why the Gresham High School junior will bring her javelin to Hayward Field in June for the U.S. Olympic Trials for Track & Field.
She isn't going to watch. She plans to throw.
"I'm really excited about it," she said after a practice last week. "I'm not so much nervous. I don't feel I have any pressure on me, because it's the Olympic Trials and I'm going against girls a lot older. It will be fun to have that kind of experience and to be competing at Hayward Field. Whatever happens, happens."
The possibilities are intriguing.
Only 12 U.S. women threw the javelin farther than Crouser did last year, when she was a high school sophomore.
Her personal record of an even 173 feet puts her within reach of former NCAA champion Rachael Yurkovich's Oregon high school record. Yurkovich threw 176-5 in 2005 while a senior at Newberg High School.
The national prep record is 176-8, set last year by Avione Allgood of North Las Vegas. Nev.
"The first goal, obviously, is 174," said Dean Crouser, Haley's dad and the Gresham throws coach. "Then, 175 seems to be a major milestone, 176 is the national record, 180 would be nice, and then just keep going."
Making the Olympic team this year would take both a top-three finish at the trials and the Olympic "A" standard of 200-1.
"That's where it starts to get out there to where, if this was next year I would say it might happen," Dean Crouser said.
A nearly 30-foot improvement from last year to this year is a lot to ask. But, then again,
.
Haley is a four-point student and a first-team Class 6A all-state volleyball selection. At last year's Oregon Class 6A state high school track & field championships, she won the javelin, was second in the shot, third in the 100 hurdles and fourth in the long jump.
To smarts, skill, and athleticism, she adds a fierce competitive drive.
"Last year at state in the shot put, she was having a pretty flat, mediocre day," Dean Crouser said. "All of a sudden some girl passed her, and that was what she needed. It was, here we go. I can't see the trials overwhelming her. I think she'll go down there and love it."
In the meantime, Crouser already is a force in four events on the high school level, helping carry the Gophers to a second-pace finish in the 2011 state meet.
To that, she is adding the high jump this year.
There are a number of colleges asking about her interest in the heptathlon.
She is making unofficial visits to UCLA and USC over spring break. Her brother, Sam, is a redshirt freshman javelin thrower at Oregon.
"I have to keep all my options open," she said.
She has her eye on the IAAF World Junior Championships this summer in Barcelona. She made the U.S. team for last summer's World Youth Championships in Lille, France,
. The top three finishers were honored on the awards stand.
"That really was frustrating," she said. "You like seeing your teammates on the podium, and you're happy for them. But you just wish so badly it could be you."
Maybe, someday soon. Maybe, at the Olympic Trials.
If not this summer, well, Crouser is young.
"It's going to be a good experience," she said. "I really want to make the Olympic team. That's my high goal. But I want to make it in 2016. And this will be a good base, a good platform for that."
Ken Goe: