The RoundHouse | 6/7/2022 5:08:00 PM

 
NCAA Preliminary Round competitors get three javelin throws to qualify as one of the top 12. As Wichita State's Taran Taylor knows, that's perfect number of tries to make it a mind game.
 
Try too hard on the first one, and the pressure builds. Don't do enough on the first throw, and the pressure builds.
 
"My prelim meets have gone really bad," he said. "The three throws really kind of psyches me out. I always try to overdo something."
 
In late May, Taylor did it just right in Fayetteville, Ark., to advance to the NCAA Outdoor Championships by finishing second in the field of 47 throwers.
 
"It was really about relaxing," he said. "I knew exactly what I needed to do."
 
He delivered a strong throw (231 feet) to open, which he knew easily put him in the top 12. With advancement secure, he could focus on competing and try for a longer distance. His third throw of 240-11 earned him second place in the West Preliminary.
 
Watching from the stands, fiancé Sydney Wyatt recognized the body language of an athlete throwing with confidence and determined to advance to the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
 
"It was very cool to watch him go from the second throw, which wasn't very good, and see him calm down, center himself, and then go out and jump back up the scoreboard," Wyatt said. "He hit his best one on his final throw."
 
Taylor, from Arkansas City, throws Wednesday in Eugene, Ore. He is seeded fifth in the 24-man field. The top eight finishers earn NCAA All-American honors with the next eight on the second team.
 
"That's been our goal – get here feeling good and feeling confident and ready," said throws coach John Hetzendorf. "He's in a good spot."
 
Earning All-American honors would provide a fitting end to Taylor's college career. He is a two-time American Athletic Conference javelin champion and ranks second on Wichita State's career list with a throw of 243-7 ½. In 2018, he won the USATF Junior Championships with a throw of 233-2.
 
After failing to get out of the NCAA prelims in 2018 and 2021, Taylor spent the spring pointing to the season's big meets. He limited his throws to stay healthy and give himself the best chance to finish a career interrupted by elbow surgery and COVID-19 with a strong day in Oregon.
 
"We've competed sparsely," Hetzendorf said. "We did that so he's more prepared to throw now. Based on his performances, it appears it's going the right way. He's got a lot of throws under his belt. We went with a less is more approach."
 
By focusing on his body, Taylor trusted the mechanics learned over his career.
 
"I feel really good about going to Eugene," he said. "Having that sort of ease of mind, I'll be able to go out there with those first three throws and find a groove and get in that right head-space."
 
Taylor's conference title and NCAA qualifying throw were part of a life-changing May. He packed graduation (with a computer science major), engagement to Wyatt, landing a job in Wichita as a software developer and two major meets into that month.
 
"It just worked out that way," he said.
 
Taylor's organizational skills and attention to detail fit with the javelin, just as they do in computer science. For their senior design project, Taylor and two classmates designed a body temperature monitor for a grade-school student who suffers from dysautonomia, a disorder of the nervous system. The wearable device would send an alert to a phone or computer if the person's body temperature rose or fell out of normal levels.
 
"He was the one who created the software for it to be able to communicate temperatures," Wyatt said. "It was not only one of his biggest seasons as an athlete, it was his biggest season as a student. I would come over for lunch and he would have a soldering iron out, hooking wires to this case."
 
May turned into a big month. It is June and one more big event awaits.
 
Paul Suellentrop covers Wichita State Athletics and the American Athletic Conference for university Strategic Communications. Story suggestion? Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.