Wichita State’s Skylar Arneson loves throwing heavy things

When Skylar Arneson finishes throwing heavy things in the NCAA track and field championships, he will put on his green-and-red plaid kilt and throw heavy things in Highland games.

That sport, his Wichita State track and field coaches suspect, is where his real passion rests. While throwing traditional track implements such as the hammer and discus is fun, Arneson finds competing with rocks, trees and pitchforks more enjoyable.

“I really do,” Arenson said. “I’ve always loved throwing things. They’re random, weird-looking things and you get to throw them.”

This week, Arneson’s focus is on the college version of the hammer throw in the NCAA championships in Eugene, Ore. He throws at 4 p.m. Wednesday in the final after qualifying ninth at the NCAA West Preliminary with a throw of 207 feet, 7 inches.

Arneson, a senior from Nickerson, is ranked No. 20 in the 24-man field. He moved up from No. 20 to No. 9 in the West Preliminary in Lawrence and wants to make a similar push in the national meet. Without other throwing events to work on, the time spent practicing the hammer in recent weeks is a boost.

“With him being a three-event athlete, it’s hard to spend enough time on any one event,” WSU throws coach John Hetzendorf said. “The last couple weeks, the hammer’s been our focus. We still haven’t captured the big throw that’s in him yet. We have at least three throws to do that in Eugene.”

Arneson won the NJCAA hammer throw (198-8) as a sophomore at Hutchinson Community College and his skills in the discus and shot also attracted WSU’s notice. He came to WSU far from a refined product, however. At Hutch, he coached himself in the hammer and said that as a sophomore he fouled out of five of his seven events.

“It was really rough at juco,” he said. “I went out and tried to throw as much as humanly possible so I could feel the ball in any way. Being told what to do properly, I’ve been able to actually control throws.”

Arneson broke his foot warming up for his first meet as a Shocker. He redshirted and resumed his career in 2014. He quickly crossed the 200-foot mark in the hammer.

“He was kind of a wild thrower,” Hetzendorf said. “But he had ability. We’ve had a lot of refinements and he established some consistency in the low 200s in the hammer. I think there’s more there.”

When Arneson finishes the NCAA meet, his next competition will be in Kansas City in Highland games this summer.

Highland games, a celebration of Scottish and Celtic culture, include what are known as the heavy events such as the stone put, caber toss, Scottish hammer throw, weight throws, weight over bar and sheaf toss. The caber is a pole, sometimes a tree, 20-feet tall, that the competitor tosses end over end. The sheaf toss involves throwing a 20-pound bundle of straw with a pitchfork. Wearing a kilt is expected and Arneson enjoys the entire atmosphere.

“It’s fun, because some days you can go out there and have two really horrible events, but you have seven others to improve your score,” Arneson said. “The caber is a very specific style of strength, because you have to be able to pick up that tree, or the professionals actually throw telephone poles, and balance it on your shoulder and get underneath it and run across. Then you have to plant and try to flip it end over end. You can’t really practice that unless you have a tree or telephone pole.”

This story was originally published June 7, 2016 at 4:22 PM with the headline "Wichita State’s Skylar Arneson loves throwing heavy things."