DES MOINES, IOWA – Things didn’t necessarily go according to plans for 2002 East Union graduate Amy Haapanen during the 2010 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Des Moines. Haapanen closed out the Women’s Hammer Throw competition with a disappointing 14th place finish.
Haapanen had aspirations of upping her personal record-setting toss from the 68th California Invitational Relays in late May for the second time in a month, but could not get things going. Haapanen tossed her first throw 57.18 meters, before closing out her action with her best toss of the day, 59.91 meters.
“Going into the meet I was training well, but on Saturday a culmination of a lot of bad factors all happening at the same time,” Haapanen said. “I was trying to compete with a lot of other things going on and some minor injuries started to catch up with me.”
Haapanen knows without question that she is more than capable of outperforming her results from this past weekend, and finds solace in the fact that her dreams for an Olympic Team berth are still very much obtainable.
“I just have to be able to learn from my mistakes,” Haapanen said. “At least this happened during an off year, where there is no World Championships or Olympics.
“If you’re going to have a bad meet in your career, it’s better to have it this year instead of any other year.”
No. 1 seeded thrower Amber Campbell walked off with the finals championship, landing a 71.52-meter distance on her third throw. Jessica Cosby finished as the runner-up, with a throw of 71.24 meters on her fourth toss.
With the challenge of earning a berth on the Olympic team only surfacing every four years, the obstacle of making an Olympic team just got tougher.
“I’m going to be in track meets all throughout the summer,” Haapanen said. “There will be international track meets in Europe and Canada, and I was planning on participating in those anyway.
“My plans for now are to just keep on doing the circuit.”
Haapanen had aspirations of upping her personal record-setting toss from the 68th California Invitational Relays in late May for the second time in a month, but could not get things going. Haapanen tossed her first throw 57.18 meters, before closing out her action with her best toss of the day, 59.91 meters.
“Going into the meet I was training well, but on Saturday a culmination of a lot of bad factors all happening at the same time,” Haapanen said. “I was trying to compete with a lot of other things going on and some minor injuries started to catch up with me.”
Haapanen knows without question that she is more than capable of outperforming her results from this past weekend, and finds solace in the fact that her dreams for an Olympic Team berth are still very much obtainable.
“I just have to be able to learn from my mistakes,” Haapanen said. “At least this happened during an off year, where there is no World Championships or Olympics.
“If you’re going to have a bad meet in your career, it’s better to have it this year instead of any other year.”
No. 1 seeded thrower Amber Campbell walked off with the finals championship, landing a 71.52-meter distance on her third throw. Jessica Cosby finished as the runner-up, with a throw of 71.24 meters on her fourth toss.
With the challenge of earning a berth on the Olympic team only surfacing every four years, the obstacle of making an Olympic team just got tougher.
“I’m going to be in track meets all throughout the summer,” Haapanen said. “There will be international track meets in Europe and Canada, and I was planning on participating in those anyway.
“My plans for now are to just keep on doing the circuit.”
— Jagada Chambers
