The RoundHouse | 5/13/2022 5:13:00 PM

 

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Wichita State thrower Michael Bryan started his championship day in a typical way.
 
"Woke up and had a hearty meal – waffles, rice cake, peanut butter," he said. "I have a nice little rice cake recipe. I do an apple cinnamon rice cake with peanut butter and blueberries on top."
 
He sent a message to teammates that wasn't typical – reflecting the fact Wichita State is competing in the American Athletic Conference Outdoor Championships at Cessna Stadium. Track's individual nature is put aside this weekend to a degree as the Shockers chase Houston, the dominant men's team, for a title.
 
"I tried to show up as early as possible, so I could support my teammates," he said. "I sent two group chats to the throwers that said 'Show up. Be a good teammate. If you don't, I'm going to call you out.' We had a really good showing."
 
With teammate Dae'Trell Gordon leading cheers, Bryan did his part for a good showing by winning the hammer throw with a distance of 69.22 meters. Memphis' Robert Watson finished second (66.11).
 
Bryan, who finished second in 2021, led the form chart entering the meet and did what he needed to do on his first throw of 68.46 meters. His fourth attempt gave him his winning distance.
 
With the 68.46 throw in the books, he went aggressively for the next two and fouled by hitting the cage. Nothing lost, and the effort might help in NCAA competition coming later this month (NCAA West Preliminaries) and in June (NCAA Outdoor Championships).
 
Bryan, from Wamego, is working to peak in June and improve on his personal record of 70.45. He threw 70.08 at the NCAA meet in 2021 to finish 12^th and earn second-team All-American honors.
 
"He started to try to go for it a little bit," Hetzendorf said. "The techniques he was working on, he was finding those. He was finding, also, some new velocity on the hammer. Things were happening quicker. He was close today, but just didn't really nail a throw."
 
Bryan is working toward his peak by practicing with a lighter ball (six kilograms instead of 7.26 kilograms used for competition) and in a wet ring designed to speed up his work and duplicate the tempo and adrenalin of championship competition.
 
"I'm doing super-speed training," he said. "You move a lot faster, trying to adapt to that kind of competition speed. When I'm moving that fast, it's hard for me to control it. At competition, it feels like super-speed training."
 
Bryan's devotion to improving that technique elevates him within the conference and makes him one of the nation's best. Watson admires his ability to stay balanced, opposite the ball, while spinning to launch the throw.
 
"Michael is one of the smaller guys in the circle, but he's throwing further than everyone because his technique is better," Watson said. "He's got a great rhythm and counter. You've got to sit against (the ball) and he does that really well."
 
Bryan added to his resume as one of Wichita State's greatest throwers. In addition to holding school records in the hammer (70.45 meters) and weight throw (21.17), he owns a conference title and second-team All-American status in the weight throw in 2022.
 
Paul Suellentrop covers Wichita State Athletics and the American Athletic Conference for university Strategic Communications. Story suggestion? Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.