Joe McGovern, a senior who throws the shot put, the discus and soon the javelin, announced his commitment to the University of Scranton on Monday morning. McGovern joins Gabe Dayon and Mason Marino as the third field athlete to commit to compete collegiately.
Aside from the Royals, other schools that were interested in McGovern were “a couple of other Division III’s… Muhlenberg, DeSales and a couple others.”
This fall, McGovern will take his talents to Scranton, P.A., located in the eastern region of the state. On the reasoning behind his commitment to the Royals, who compete at the Division III level in the Landmark Conference, McGovern said, “I really liked the environment when I went and the coach really wanted me to go there so he kept close contact. The campus is also really nice and the students were great.”
McGovern will be a huge addition to the Scranton field program as he believes that his skills will take the team a long way. “I think that my talents will definitely assist Scranton as my current throwing numbers exceed their records,” McGovern said. “And also I think I have a lot of technical knowledge so I’m hoping to be able to help out my teammates so we can make the team really strong.”
This spring, McGovern hopes the Westfield track and field program will have much success and could eventually bring home yet another sectional and Group 4 championship. However, for the field athletes, McGovern highlighted that he and his teammates will have to adjust to the increase of the weight of the shot put and the discus. Although this sounds challenging and difficult, McGovern is ready to prepare for the change.
“What I am most looking forward to during the spring is getting used to the new weights as well as new implements I’ll be throwing. The shot is going from 12 lbs to 16 lbs and the disc 1.6 kg to 2 kg, and I’ll be throwing some javelin, which I’ve never done before,” McGovern said.
With McGovern’s strong build, it is safe to say that the adjustment to the heavier shot put and discus should not be a problem for the future Royal.
