Athlete of the Week: Smith to make noise at Masters
Starting school late on Wednesday afforded Cole Smith the chance to sleep in a little, or so he thought. He can thank his surprise wake-up call to the loud noise emanating from nearby Newport Harbor High.
Smith lives down the street from the school, where renovations to Davidson Field have gotten underway. He said the screeching sounds began at 8 a.m., and seven hours later, it was still ringing.
There was nowhere for Smith to escape the noise.
When school let out, Smith’s day on campus wasn’t over. He had to train for his next track and field meet. Smith grabbed his discus and began to work on his throwing form and throws not too far from the site where a crew worked on the back of the football stadium’s concrete stands.
“It sounds something hydraulic. It sounds like they’re cleaning the back or they could be drilling. It’s quite loud,” said Smith, who raised his voice because of the background noise. “But it’s always nice to have some outside sources affecting you to get you ready for meet time. You never know what could happen during a meet. There could be people yelling, screaming. You just have stay quiet in your mind. Everything is silent in your mind.”
While some students covered their ears when they passed by the construction, Smith blocked the noise out. He’s not letting anything distract him.
There’s a reason why Smith has gotten this far this year. The junior can handle pressure, and pressure is what Coach Tony Ciarelli said Smith is going to face in his next meet.
Smith is one of two throwers the legendary coach has guided to the CIF Southern Section Masters Meet at Cerritos College on Friday. Two days before the meet, Ciarelli wasn’t worried about Smith or Mike Jarboe’s eardrums. He wanted to make sure they had the correct form.
Technique is everything in throwing. Smith didn’t really need to hear Ciarelli if he was doing something wrong.
“We’ve been practicing for so long this year that we kind of already know the cues that we need to fix,” Smith said. “It is a little hard to hear, but he’ll give me some motioning on what I need to do. While I was out there in the field collecting my discus, I kind of looked back at him and he motioned over to me that I need to get over on my left more, so he kind of signaled [to] shift my weight over onto my left foot out of the back of the ring.”
Smith took about two dozen throws in the discus, and Jarboe watched. He didn’t have to be out there with Smith or have to deal with the noise. Jarboe is only competing in the shotput at the Masters Meet, but he wanted to support Smith, who is in both the shotput and discus events.
Ciarelli said having two throwers together is always a positive, more so when it comes to lifting. Smith and Jarboe push each other in the weight room. They each can squat 240 kilograms, which is 529 pounds, twice. Smith, who is 5-foot-9 and 230 pounds, is smaller than Jarboe, a 6-3, 280-pounder, but Smith holds the Newport Harbor bench-press record of 195 kilograms (430 pounds) and he throws farther.
“He had that time to practice while I wasn’t around,” said Jarboe, who plays football in the fall. “He [sneaked] up on me.”
Smith surpassed Jarboe this year in terms of distance in both the discus and shotput, and Smith credits that to training year-round. He used to play on the football team with Jarboe, until Smith said he suffered a serious concussion on the field as a sophomore, his second in two years.
“We just had to call it quits for safety reasons,” Smith said was why he stopped playing football after his sophomore year.
“We’re just finding new stuff about [concussions] and they are always dangerous. You never really know what the outcome could be after a concussion. It’s different for a lot of people. You kind of have to just hope for the best.”
It wasn’t easy for Smith to give up football, a sport he said he began playing as a third-grader. However, focusing on one sport has allowed Smith to turn into one of the best throwers in the CIF Southern Section.
Smith won the CIF Southern Section Division 2 shotput title last week with a mark of 57 feet, 9½ inches, edging Jarboe by nine inches at Cerritos College. In the discus, Smith turned in a personal-best heave of 179 feet, 3 inches, good enough for second in Division 2, and the throw ranks seventh on the Sailors’ all-time list.
Smith’s best mark in the shotput is 60 feet, ½ inch, which is No. 11 at Newport Harbor. Only seven other athletes in the state have recorded better throws in the shotput this year. In the discus, Smith is No. 11 in the state.
“I think to make it to Masters is the hardest part,” Ciarelli said when asked if Smith and Jarboe have what it takes to become the first Newport Harbor throwers to reach the CIF State meet since Marty Taylor did in 2013, when he placed second in the discus and third in the shotput. “Getting to [state] is just hitting a qualifying mark. You’d always like to beat people [at Masters], but to get to the state meet all they got to do is hit [56] in the shotput and [168-9] in the discus and you automatically get to go, even if you’re in 12th place.”
The top six in the discus and shotput earn automatic entries into state at Buchanan High in Clovis. Getting out of town next week might do Smith some good, with all the racket these days at Newport Harbor.
—
Cole Smith
Born: Aug. 18, 1998
Hometown: Newport Beach
Height: 5-foot-9
Weight: 230 pounds
Sport: Track and field
Year: Junior
Coach: Tony Ciarelli
Favorite food: Pulled pork
Favorite movie: “Kelly’s Heroes”
Favorite athletic moment: “Throwing 60 feet, ½ inches this year.”
Week in review: Smith won the CIF Southern Section Division 2 shotput title with a mark of 57 feet, 9½ inches, and placed third in the discus throw with a personal-best effort of 179-3 at Cerritos College.
