The RoundHouse | 6/19/2019 3:26:00 PM

 
Where are they now:
 
Skylar Arneson – track and field (2013-16)
 
Arneson is on his way to becoming a professional thrower in the Highland Games.
 
Last weekend, he won the World Amateur Championship at the International Highland Games in Bressuire, France. He scored 21 points in eight events (low score wins), highlighted by wins in the stone throws (16 and 22 pounds).
 
Arneson, as he did at Wichita State, loves to throw heavy things and does it quite well.
 
"I've been competing in (the Highland Games) for the past six years," he said. "In 2013, I had a friend who had competed in the Highland Games. Her entire family had done it, so I had gotten into it. I went out and threw a couple times with them. I used it as a cross-trainer when I was at Hutchinson Community College. When I came to Wichita State, I kept it up because it really seemed to help. When I finally graduated from Wichita State, I tried to do it full-time and really chase after it."  
 
The championship in France boosts Arneson's plans to compete professionally in April. He will declare himself a professional and rely on name recognition within the sport to attract invitations to the top events.
 
"You have to get out there so they know you exist," he said. "A lot of the games will pay you for event wins and they will have a payment for the champion at the end of the games, as well."
 
The celebration featured a lot of food.
 
"They had a giant banquet for all of the athletes and we got as full as we could," he said. "When I got home, my wife and I ended up going to Texas Roadhouse to celebrate and had a nice, big dinner again."
 
Arneson, from Nickerson, ranks second on Wichita State's career list in the hammer throw (208 feet) and eighth in the shot put (57-1 ½) and eighth in the discus (173-8). He qualified for the NCAA Championships in the hammer in 2016. At Hutchinson, he won the NJCAA championship in the hammer and finished third in the shot and weight throw.
 
Status update – Arneson is a shop operator at Tennison Brothers, Inc., a sheet metal products manufacturing company in Wichita.
 
Family – wife, Julianna
 
What does he throw? – The Highland Games consist of eight throwing events – two stones (16 and 22 pounds); two weights (28 and 56 pounds); two hammer (16 and 22 pounds), weight over bar and the caber toss (a 175-pound pole).
 
Arneson is the amateur world record holder – 146 feet 10 inches – in the light hammer.
 
The cross-training between the two sports is a benefit, he said. The Highland Games hammer throw is a standing throw, different from spinning wind-up to the hammer throw in college.
 
"So, it's a lot more core strength and stability work than a wire hammer would be for college," he said. "I got a lot stronger through the core and a lot stronger through my motions."
 
He also said his experience learning techniques for the college events gave him an advantage over some of his Highland Games competitors.
 
"A lot of the people who compete in the Highland Games have never thrown before," he said. "It came a little easier to me since I had the experience of learning how to throw a shot put and a discus and the hammer the past 10 years."
 
Up next – Arneson will travel to Switzerland in July and to Norway in August to continue to compete in a world series championship for the Highland Games. 
 
That means his busy schedule continues. He is awake at 5 a.m. to lift weights four times a week. After work, he practices his throws six or seven times a week.
 
He wants to turn that time into money next spring.
 
The top professionals, he said, can make $15,000-30,000 a year. They might compete in 15-20 events nationally. He estimates around 40 people compete as professionals, although that number typically rises through the spring and summer.
 
"It's like you're working two full-time jobs," he said. "There are one or two guys now that travel enough and make enough that they can only do the Highland Games. But, you have to be the best person in the nation."
 
Paul Suellentrop covers Wichita State Athletics and the American Athletic Conference for university Strategic Communications. Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.