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Welcome To The Golden Age Of Throwers At UWM

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Five throwers have broken indoor and outdoor school records 14 times this season, with four current athletes holding school records in seven of the program's 10 men's and women's throwing events.

To top it off, five of the six outdoor records were broken April 6-7 at the Big Blue Classic in Charleston, Ill. Senior Nick Gretz broke both the men's shot put (57-9 1/2) and discus records (181-3), while senior Nick Wichert once again broke his own hammer throw mark (194-1). On the women's side, junior Amber Curtis broke her own hammer (140-4) and discus (164-5) standards at the same meet for the second time this season.

"To have full groups of throwers, both men's and women's, with this kind of success is beyond anything we've ever had at UWM," head coach Pete Corfeld said. "They've only competed a few times so far this season and have not had the best weather conditions for practice or competition, so I am really looking forward to what they can do when they get more competitions under their belt and the weather turns. It will be exciting to watch."

The outdoor success came on the heels of an indoor season that saw Gretz win his third-straight Horizon League shot put championship and the emergence of junior Larry Ehrhorn in the weight throw.

"It really has been a terrific year for the UWM throwers. We have always done well, but this year we are definitely standing out," Gretz said. "We've worked really hard this year, even harder than the previous years, and it is definitely paying off. I attribute our success to increased strength, speed and agility that we have developed over the past two years."

"This success did not come as a surprise. It is more the result of a three-year program," throws coach Stefan Rüdiger said. "It took a lot of effort and dedication from all of us to reach the level we are at right now. This year we are harvesting the results of the great work we have done in the last years. But, even though we are having a lot of success right now, we really have not reached our goals yet. It is really the regional meet that we are working toward."

What makes the season so memorable is the concentration of talent on the men's side and a dramatic jump on the women's side to the top of the league.

A Take Of Two Nicks
The Nicks Gretz and Wichert have established themselves as a pair of elite throwers in the league, with 2006 marking the second time both throwers have qualified for the NCAA Regional. Gretz, just as in 2005, has already qualified in the discus and shot put, while Wichert is again qualified in the hammer throw.

For Gretz, the honors, records and league titles have piled up. The Two Rivers, Wis., native has won six league titles, taken second five times and was named Outstanding Field Performer of the Meet at the 2005 Indoor and Outdoor Horizon League Championships.

He returned from an off-season hand injury and is now third in the region and 30th nationally in both the shot put and discus throw. He is one of just five throwers ranked among the top 30 nationally in both events and the only thrower in the Mideast Region among the nation's top 40 in both. He has also garnered the first two league athlete of the week honors of his career, doing so in each of the last two weeks he competed.

The hammer throw has become a specialty for Wichert, who broke the school record in the event for the first time as a sophomore in 2004. Since initially breaking the record, which had stood since 1968, he has bettered himself four more times, including twice in a span of three weeks this season.

Outside of the circle, Wichert, a fifth-year senior, has become a veteran leader of a group that will lose two of its most successful members to graduation after this season.

"I like to set the benchmark for the season during the first week of competition," Wichert said of his role with the group. "I want to push my teammates and set the bar early so they have something to work for. I just think that it's a great way to start the season, it also gives them some confidence for the year."

The remaining throwers will be Ehrhorn and freshman Shane Teigen. Ehrhorn has followed Gretz in his specialty areas, winning six throwing events indoors and eventually breaking the weight throw record Gretz had held. Teigen also has experience chasing Gretz, having broken Gretz's Two Rivers High School discus record in his only year of high school competition.

"Having (Wichert and Gretz) on the team has given me something to strive for," Ehrhorn said. "For my first two years I was here, it was only us three throwers. Everything we did in practice we did together and I developed a work ethic from seeing how they carried themselves in practice. I'm hoping that I can do the same next year for the current freshman and any incoming freshman next year."

Panther Women On The Rise
The emergence of the female throwers has coincided with the induction of Anne Vuchichevich into the UWM Athletics Hall of Fame last May. Coincidentally it was Vuchichevich, who graduated in 1997, and Laura Andre a year later, that were the Panthers' last true throwers.

Vuchichevich graduated as the school record holder in each event that was held at the time and remains the team's only female Division I throwing league champion after winning the 1997 MCC shot put title. Andre has her name scattered among the school throwing leaderboards and had been the most recent entry on each.

This season, the Panther coaching staff went about changing that, recruiting its first class of throwers since the mid-1990's with freshmen Jamie Woods from nearby Glendale, Wis., and Ashley Zander from Bonduel, Wis. The corps then gained some veteran experience when Curtis, another Wisconsin native, transferred to UWM from Nebraska between semesters.

"I came to UWM just planning to work and finish up my schooling. I spent three great years in Nebraska and it was time for me to leave," Curtis said. "After a semester of being a student and just working otherwise, I knew something was missing. I have been involved in track for the majority of my life and it wasn't time for me to let it go. I was lucky enough to have been given the opportunity to join the track and field team at UWM and am thankful for it. It has been a great experience thus far and will continue to be. I know there are great things in store for both the men's and women's teams in the remainder of this year and in the future."

Things changed immediately. All three women surpassed the school indoor weight throw mark that had been held by Stephanie Ray, one of the top pole vaulters in school history. When the outdoor season began, Curtis wasted no time in supplanting Ray atop the hammer throw list by over 11 feet.

"It took me as little as one week of practice to notice that the work ethic, the passion for throwing, is instilled in each and every one of us," Curtis said. "Everyone has worked very hard for what they have accomplished thus far and hopefully there's more to come for everyone. There is an insurmountable amount of information about throwing that is passed around at every practice; we all are there consistently to help each other out. It truly is a team effort everyday."

In addition to her three school records over indoor and outdoor events, she is also second in the indoor shot put and third in the outdoor event. Her discus throw is currently in the top 40 nationally and third in the region.

Woods, who initially broke the school weight throw mark in her first collegiate meet indoors, has held her own as just a rookie. She is second to Curtis on the team in each of the throwing categories, but is already in the top 10 in school history in every event she competes.

Der Wurf Trainer
While Corfeld is the face of the UWM track and field programs, it has been throws coach Stefan Rüdiger that he credits for the emergence of the team's throwers.

"Stefan takes his job seriously and utilizes all of his resources to get the best information, training or tips to our student-athletes," Corfeld said. "He has international experience as an athlete as well as high-profile contacts in Germany that he is able to hone workouts that get the best out of our throwers. He has dealt with high expectations of others and has high expectations of himself. Stefan applies that to the student-athletes and it shows in the results."

"It has taken a lot of work outside of practice, doing research about the different throws, learning new techniques and deepening my own knowledge about throwing," Rüdiger said. "The throwers and I really have been growing together."

A three-year German National Team member in the javelin, he trained in his home country under javelin world-record holder Uwe Hohn and Frank Möller, a competitor on the 4x400m Olympic relay at the 1988 Seoul games. After a shoulder injury prevented him from competing in the javelin, he switched gears and began bobsledding, peaking with a second-place finish at the World Junior Championships in 2003.

It was training for the 2006 Olympic Trials that brought together Rüdiger and the Panthers track program.

Already at UWM working on his master's degree in economics, the 28-year-old native of Zeven, Germany, approached Corfeld about training with the team during the 2002-03 school year.

While, a hamstring injury prevented Rüdiger of making the trials back home, he found a new athletic role as throws and jumps coach for the Panthers beginning as a volunteer assistant in 2004.

Now, four years later, he has coached 22 league champions and established UWM in both areas as the dominant program in the league.

"Stefan has brought to UWM a new vision of training," Wichert said. "Our training is so different from what it used to be and it has had a major impact on the success we have had. He really loves the sport and his dedication shows in the success we have had."

"He is a great guy and I have a lot of respect for him. He is an intense person and I definitely feed off of his personality," Gretz said. "Stefan's workouts are extremely tough sometimes, but no matter how hard they are I know they are making me a better athlete. His coaching at meets also helps me to produce bigger throws. Even after I have broken my personal record, he helps me to extend it even further."

As if to bring more meaning to the culmination of talent, Rüdiger will likely follow Gretz and Wichert out of the program after the season to concentrate on his studies. He earned his master's in 2004 and is one year away from his Ph.D. in economics.

"I am truly blessed to be the coach of these great athletes," Rüdiger said. "It has been a great honor to have gotten the chance to be a coach at UWM."

The common bond between the throwers and their coach is the team mentality and the desire to push each of their teammates to get better. This is the legacy each looks to leave behind after they graduate, as well as marks that will last for years.

"The legacy I hope to leave behind for future athletes and throwers is that if you work really hard, push yourself everyday, and are able to have fun while doing it, you can go a long way," Gretz said. "One thing that has contributed to my success is that I never limited myself I believe that I can compete with anyone.

"That is the mentality that you have to have to be successful. I want to leave behind a legacy that UWM can and will produce nationally-recognized athletes every year and hopefully have them place well at nationals."

"Most of all I don't want my hammer record to ever be touched," Wichert said of the legacy he hopes to leave after graduation. "I also want to leave my work ethic and love for the sport behind for other to follow under."

"I hope to achieve things on an individual level: breaking records, nationals, etc., but most of all I hope to help to make people better along with making myself better," Curtis said. "I feel that if I can help people to grow as throwers, to help them to obtain their goals, whether it's giving them encouragement in practice or being there to push them as they do me. That is ultimately the best feeling that I would love to say I attributed to during my time here. The group of throwers will leave a legacy behind and I will be glad that I contributed to it."