Trials and tribulations
Jordan Geist was the lowest he'd ever been.
Adversity and Geist had never mixed much during the Knoch graduate's throwing career in high school, where he broke records in the shot put in virtually every meet.
Even the beginning of his collegiate career at Arizona went relatively smoothly.
But this year, Geist struggled with COVID-19 quarantine and with his form.
He reached rock bottom when he didn't record a distance in the shot put at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships this winter.
Geist, a junior with the Wildcats, was determined to turn his season around and make up for lost time.
He ended up capping his tumultuous season on a high note at the Olympic Trials at the University of Oregon Friday night, placing seventh overall with a career best throw of 20.80 meters (68 feet, 3 inches) in the finals.
“It definitely felt good, especially coming out throwing a season-best on my first throw,” Geist said. “That was obviously good for my confidence.”
Geist spent most of the season fumbling for that kind of confidence, desperately trying to regain the form that made him an Olympic hopeful to begin with.
But after losing last year to the pandemic and starting this season in a funk, Geist felt like he was constantly searching for consistency.
He wasn't close to being the “old Jordan,” the “Knochness Monster.”
Geist was beginning to make progress, but a bout with COVID-19 set him back to square one.
Geist didn't begin to feel like his old self until the NCAA Track and Field Championships a week before the trials, where he placed third in the shot put and eighth in the hammer throw.
He was 11th in the qualifying round at the Olympic Trials Friday and barely advanced to the finals.
“I didn't throw too well in the morning session, so I was kind of able to go back, relax and kind of look at what I could improve going into the evening. There was one or two things in my head that I was focusing on every throw and I was able to open up with a good throw and was able to keep building off of that.”
Now Geist wishes the season wasn't over.
“I wish I had probably another month or so,” Geist said. “It was just too little, too late. But we have a solid point to build off of starting next year, though.”
Just being in the company of the best throwers in the country was invaluable for Geist.
Ryan Crouser, the defending Olympic champion, broke a 31-year-old world record in the shot with a throw of 23.37 meters (75 feet, 10¼ inches) in the finals.
“It was awesome seeing Ryan throw a world record,” Geist said. “I mean, it was probably one of the best shot put competitions ever, better than any I've ever been in, for sure. I'm probably never going to be in a shot put competition better than that. To be top-eight in that kind of competition was just an awesome experience.”
Geist said he also learned a lot about himself during this trying season.
He said he thinks, in the long run, the adversity he experience may benefit him.
“I've never had to go through a season like this,” Geist said. “If I'm ever in a slump or if I'm feeling bad about how I did in a meet, I can always look back at this year and think about what I did to get out of it.
“A big takeaway is I can go from (throwing poorly) and faulting out of the indoor championships to seventh in the Olympic trials,” Geist added. “That's a successful year in my opinion.”
