Rhode Island swept the top spots in the boys hammer and Georgia walked away with best girls results at this year's New Balance Outdoor Nationals. Favorite Joe Velez (Classical, Providence, RI) ended up with the win, but not after a little drama. Velez led most of the competition, but junior Charlie Ionata (Barrington, RI) took the lead in the fifth round. However Velez came through final attempt of 207'3" to regain the lead and captue the title. Bryn Campbell (Canal Winchester, OH) took third place with all three medalists finishing over 200-feet. National leader Rudy Winkler (Averill Park, NY) was absent and instead throwing at the US Junior National Championships in order to try and qualify for the World Junior Championships.

National leader Avana Story (Woodward Academy, College Park, GA) took the girl's title in another close competition. Story was well under her best throughout the competition and found herself trailing her training partner Monice Phillips (Pope, Marietta, GA) throughout the first four rounds. But then Story found some more strength to take the lead by less than a foot. That was enough to secure the win though. Another Georgia thrower, freshman Sabrina Gaitan (Sprayberry, Marietta, GA) also had a huge improvement in the final round to nearly pass both throwers but had to settle for thid place.

            New Balance Outdoor Nationals - 6/14/2012 to 6/16/2012             
                 North Carolina A+T University, Greensboro, NC                 
                                    Results   
Boys Hammer Throw Championship
==========================================================================
 8 advance to the final
    National:   260-00  6/28/2008   Conor Mc Cullough, Chaminade, W Hills, CA  
        Meet:   249-00  6/15/2007   Walter Henning, St Anthony's, S Hunt,NY    
    Freshman:   213-00  6/22/2006   Conor Mc Cullough, Chaminade, W Hills,CA   
   Sophomore:   243-11  6/3/2007    Conor Mc Cullough, Chaminade, W Hills, CA  
      Junior:   260-00  6/28/2008   Conor Mc Cullough, Chaminade, W Hills, CA  
      Senior:   256-09  4/18/2009   Conor Mc Cullough, Chaminade, W Hills, CA  
    Name                    Year School                  Finals           
==========================================================================
  1   499 Joe Velez           12 Providence, RI          63.17m     207-03 
      61.62m  FOUL  61.86m  FOUL  61.50m  63.17m
  2   114 Charlie Ionata      13 Barrington, RI          62.73m     205-10 
      58.61m  60.12m  FOUL  FOUL  62.73m  FOUL
  3  2812 Bryn Campbell       12 Lancaster, OH           61.62m     202-02 
      60.80m  FOUL  FOUL  61.62m  FOUL  FOUL
  4  2863 Reuben Horace       12 Warwick, RI             60.48m     198-05 
      60.35m  60.48m  FOUL  58.42m  FOUL  59.94m
  5  2433 Chase Carroll       13 Throw1Deep, GA          59.60m     195-06 
      56.20m  57.17m  59.60m  57.20m  59.05m  FOUL
  6  2144 Mahlik Handley      13 Wakefield, RI           58.84m     193-00 
      58.84m  FOUL  FOUL  53.86m  FOUL  FOUL
  7  1918 Carlos Mangum       13 Providence, RI          57.53m     188-09 
      57.21m  53.44m  57.53m  FOUL  FOUL  56.77m
  8  2450 Josh Whitener       13 Throw1Deep, GA          57.34m     188-01 
      FOUL  55.57m  57.34m  54.93m  54.75m  FOUL
  9  2431 Kenneth Brinson     15 Throw1Deep, GA          56.31m     184-09
 10   347 Gabriel Arcaro      14 Burlington, MA          55.59m     182-04
 11  1901 Alexander Briggs    12 Portsmouth, RI          55.19m     181-01
 12  2315 Alexander Young     12 LaVergne, TN            55.11m     180-10
 13  2082 Tim Brennan         13 Cranbury, NJ            54.31m     178-02
 14   498 Ndailor Sheriff     12 Providence, RI          51.38m     168-07
 15   194 Matthew Casbarro    13 Cranston, RI            51.30m     168-04
 16   178 John Celona         12 North Providence, R     50.45m     165-06
 17   497 Robert Palazzo      12 Providence, RI          48.58m     159-04
 18  3146 Kevin Conway        12 Westerly, RI            45.72m     150-00
 --  1915 Clarence Gallop     13 Providence, RI            FOUL

Boys Hammer Throw Emerging Elite
==========================================================================
    Name                    Year School                  Finals           
==========================================================================
  1 Matthew Zajac             14 Lynchburg, VA           53.53m     175-07
  2 Daniel Haugh              14 Throw1Deep, GA          48.51m     159-02
  3 Kyle Johnson              13 Throw1Deep, GA          46.98m     154-02
  4 Gino Giglio               12 Astoria, NY             46.09m     151-02
  5 Kyle Littles              13 Throw1Deep, GA          44.47m     145-11
  6 Zack Smelcer              13 Findlay, OH             41.90m     137-06
  7 Joseph Quartucio          12 Cortlandt Manor, NY     40.60m     133-02
  8 Chris Celona              14 North Providence, R     40.11m     131-07
  9 Seth Whitener             15 Throw1Deep, GA          36.38m     119-04
 10 John Aronson              13 Syosset, NY             36.06m     118-04
 11 Brooks Hardy              13 Throw1Deep, GA          35.69m     117-01
 12 Danny Andrews             15 Throw1Deep, GA          33.31m     109-03           
 -- Dylan Gardner             13 Warwick, RI               FOUL           
 -- Jordan Pickerel           13 Throw1Deep, GA            FOUL           
 -- Kenneth Brinson           15 Throw1Deep, GA            FOUL           
 -- Joseph Ruggiers           14 Throw1Deep, GA            FOUL

Girls Hammer Throw Championship
==========================================================================
 8 advance to the final                                                   
    National:   214-04  6/15/2010   Shelby Ashe, St. Pius X, Atlanta, GA  
        Meet:   202-04  6/18/2011   Shelby Ashe, St. Pius X, Atlanta, GA  
    Freshman:   173-04  5/5/2007    Casey Kraychir, Twentynine Palms, CA  
   Sophomore:   177-04  5/18/2008   Casey Kraychir, Twentynine Palms, CA  
      Junior:   214-04  6/15/2010   Shelby Ashe, St. Pius X, Atlanta, GA  
      Senior:   211-01  5/15/2011   Shelby Ashe, St. Pius X, Atlanta, GA  
    Name                    Year School                  Finals           
==========================================================================                                                                  
  1 Avana Story               12 Throw1Deep, GA          50.38m     165-03
      47.57m  FOUL  FOUL  49.00m  50.38m  49.49m                          
  2 Monica Phillips           12 Throw1Deep, GA          50.16m     164-07
      44.44m  48.00m  49.89m  50.16m  49.62m  49.43m                      
  3 Sabrina Gaitan            15 Throw1Deep, GA          49.14m     161-03
      44.84m  FOUL  47.23m  FOUL  44.81m  49.14m                          
  4 Maggie Dufault            12 Warwick, RI             46.95m     154-00
      45.51m  46.55m  FOUL  45.68m  46.95m  40.37m                        
  5 Casidy Callahan           13 Throw1Deep, GA          46.05m     151-01
      46.05m  FOUL  41.95m  44.13m  FOUL  FOUL                            
  6 Ashlen Veatch             12 Roanoke, VA             46.02m     151-00
      46.02m  45.21m  FOUL  FOUL  FOUL  42.65m                            
  7 Josie Hardin              13 Throw1Deep, GA          45.95m     150-09
      45.27m  45.95m  43.41m  45.79m  44.60m  FOUL                        
  8 Leia Mistowski            14 Narragansett, RI        45.54m     149-05
      45.54m  41.40m  40.21m  45.03m  44.25m  40.79m                      
  9 Ann Dagrin                12 providence, RI          45.25m     148-05
 10 Kelli Thomas              14 Throw1Deep, GA          44.70m     146-08
 11 Kamryn Brinson            16 Throw1Deep, GA          43.56m     142-11
 12 Rebecca Cousens           12 Portsmouth, RI          43.43m     142-06
 13 Marthaline Cooper         13 providence, RI          42.05m     137-11
 14 Brianna O'Grady           13 Wakefield, RI           40.50m     132-10
 15 Destinee Barrette         13 Warwick, RI             39.11m     128-04
 16 Hannah Makowske           12 Redding, CT             39.09m     128-03
 17 Brielle Rowe              12 Los Altos, CA           38.50m     126-04
 18 Jennifer Slagus           13 Moscow, PA              38.25m     125-06
 19 Becca Leppelmeier         13 McComb, OH              37.98m     124-07
 20 Amber Sudzius             12 Brentwood, TN           37.46m     122-11
 21 Kori Reiser               12 Wayne, OH               35.35m     116-00
 22 Alyssa Gary               12 Findlay, OH             34.67m     113-09
 23 Megan Pendleton           13 Lindsey, OH             34.27m     112-05
 24 Gabriella Smith           13 Narragansett, RI        33.81m     110-11
 25 Taniya Mitchell           14 Mt. Vernon, NY          24.15m      79-03
 -- Maddie Sears              12 Throw1Deep, GA            FOUL           
 -- Nyla Woods                14 Throw1Deep, GA            FOUL
 
Girls Hammer Throw Emerging Elite
==========================================================================
    Name                    Year School                  Finals           
==========================================================================
  1  2430 Kamryn Brinson      16 Throw1Deep, GA          45.86m     150-05
  2  2449 Andrea Vahoua       14 Throw1Deep, GA          37.21m     122-01
  3  2406 Brianna Heilsnis    13 Apex, NC                35.09m     115-01
  4  2441 Sarah Mitchell      13 Throw1Deep, GA          33.12m     108-08
  5  1587 Briyah Brown        13 New Rochelle, NY        31.67m     103-11
  6   842 Tamara Ovejera      13 Frederick, MD           30.98m     101-08
  7  2809 Alex Devincentis    13 Findlay, OH             30.33m      99-06
  8  2668 Megan Mounts        14 Walkersville, MD        29.97m      98-04