Olympia shot put athlete looks toward state

Macon Rodier aims for his second state title in the shot put.

By Jennifer Nesslar
| 9:00 p.m. May 4, 2016

Sports

Macon Rodier already was riding the bus home from school when his brother called him.

It was the first day of tryouts for the track team, he said, asking if Rodier wanted to try out.

Rodier said yes, so his brother drove to the bus stop to bring Rodier back to Olympia High School, where Rodier was a freshman at the time. Although Rodier had competed in the shot put in middle school, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to continue in high school.

Things certainly have changed since then.

Rodier, now a senior at Olympia, is preparing to defend his state shot put title. He trains with Coach Andy Vince at the National Training Center in Clermont three days a week, even in the off-season.

In the fall, he’s headed to Nova Southeastern University to continue competing in the shot put.

“Macon is probably one of the hardest workers on the team,” Olympia track coach Jason Greer said. “I’ve seen him progress from a guy that didn’t have much talent as a freshman, to being a state champion as a junior, and that’s all because of his dedication to his craft.”

Rodier decided freshman year that he would focus solely on his track events, rather than playing other sports as well.

As a junior at states, he took first with a put of 55 feet, 2 inches — his personal record is 55 feet, 4 inches. But puts of that length have come from much effort.

During his freshman year, he was putting in the 30-foot range, but he improved by nearly 8 feet every year until his junior year.

Then he qualified for state for the first time — and won.

“I’m extremely pleased with my career over track and field,” Rodier said.

On April 26, Rodier won the regional shot put event, and the Olympia boys track team placed first overall. Rodier hopes to keep the streak going for states.

The last time Olympia won states, Rodier was a freshman. He didn’t qualify for states individually that year, so the possibility of winning states as a team is even more compelling to him now, as he will be an active contributor this year.

There’s also another appeal to winning back-to-back state titles. The last Olympia student to get back-to-back state titles was Chris Johnson, now an NFL player. Johnson finished first in the 4x100 two years in a row.

Rodier looks forward to heading to Nova Southeastern in the fall and feels confident in his technique, but he hopes to work more on strength training. In college competition, the shot put weighs 16 pounds, compared to 12 pounds in high school.

He hopes to put 67 feet by his senior year of college.

Contact Jennifer Nesslar at [email protected].