This past week Sophia Scott senior here at burke high school, had the opportunity to sign a letter of intent with the university of Tennessee. Sophia also breaks record of being the #1 javelin thrower in the nation.
Scott started throwing at a young age. And at age 8 she beat a record in nationals for club track.
“I started Javelin when I was 4 years old, for club track. My dad had me doing all 3 throws at first, and shot put was my best one, and I then kind of got short and stopped growing, so I moved over to javelin. Around 7-8 was when I won my first nationals,” Scott said.
Although she was already doing extremely well in the sport at such a young age, it wasn’t until age 13 she realized that javelin was more to her than just an extracurricular activity she was doing for fun.
“I think the first time I really realized it could be something was when I was 13, and I won the national record, and that was when I started focusing everything into javelin. But before that it was just a fun thing that I was good at,” Scott said.
Many know about track as a sport, but here in Nebraska javelin is not legal yet.
“It’s not legal in Nebraska yet, but its legal in other states. Most states besides Nebraska have it in high school. If you go to Kansas or Missouri almost everyone does javelin and throws. So, I think it nit being legal here makes it harder for people to know about it,” Scott said.
This all puts Sophia as the one who is representing javelin for the state to show others about the sport that gave her a multitude of opportunities.
“Javelin is apart of the field part of track and field. It’s a 7-foot spear that weighs about 600 grams. A good throw for someone who’s my age is about 120 ft, and I throw 170 ft. But its also just a really technical sport, but also way more difficult than you’d think it is,” Scott said.
Scott already had hopes and dreams of staying in Nebraska for college after graduation, but after visiting Tennessee she realized that was her dream school and where she wanted to build her life.
