Hillsdale’s Patrick Pomianek saves his best for last

It wasn’t just the finish, it was how he got there. After barely qualifying out of the Peninsula Athletic League discus championship with a throw of 112-3, his worst throw of the season. It was, however, good enough for fifth place and the final qualifier to CCS.

“I did a full spin and everything. I was just so off balance,” Pomianek said. “If I told you the feeling I (had), you wouldn’t understand it. I barely made it to CCS.”

Once he got to CCS, however, he uncorked the two longest throws of his life. In the CCS trials June 12, Pomianek qualified fourth, unleashing a throw of 137-08 — 25 feet, 5 inches further than his PAL mark and a new personal record.

“When he uncorked the 137, it was, ‘OK. Hey, we got to where we were last year,’” said Chris Chaika, Hillsdale track and field head coach.

In Saturday’s finals, he moved from fourth to second with a throw of 145-10 — another PR. From May 22, the day of the PAL finals, to the CCS finals June 19, Pomianek improved by 33 feet, 7 inches.

“The guys I passed (in the standings) were … not happy. The expressions on their faces were not very good,” Pomianek said “I was jumping up and down. I never thought I’d be able to throw it that far in such a short amount of time.”

No one was going to catch eventual CCS champ Charlie Dang of Silver Creek, whose winning toss was 170-05. But Pomianek was 4 feet, 7 inches further than the third-place finisher.

The final two events of the season showed just how quickly things could come together when an athlete has time to properly train. Pomianek did not get a lot of full-field training because of the crush on the facilities as athletics re-emerged from the pandemic. Chaika said Pomianek and Hillsdale throws coach Pete Garcia would use the discus facility at Aragon, which has its own dedicated space. The throwing pit at Hillsdale is on the stadium field and simply not usable with four soccer teams and lacrosse teams needing field use.

“This season, everyone had to be flexible with schedules,” Chaika said.

On top of that, Pomianek had already started his summer job, working with his father in the family construction business. Pomianek would put in a full shift than then practice discus after work.

After his less-than-stellar PAL performance, Pomianek had to have a sit-down with his dad and tell him he wanted to dedicate the following two weeks to prepare for CCS.

“I was working up until PALs. After that, I told (my dad), straight up: I need the time off to focus on this,” Pomianek said. “He was understanding. Now that he sees the medal, he’s like, ‘OK.’”

Pomianek and Garcia started working on his form and technique. Pomianek would throw for an hour straight to ingrain muscle memory, as he lost the feel for the event during the pandemic. He started studying the sport on the internet and recorded his workouts to look for ways to improve.

“After PALs, I got super serious about it,” Pomianek said. “It all had to do with practice.”

The work was paying off. Chaika said there were steady improvements in technique and distance and every now and then, Pomianek would pop one.

“He was consistently getting 120s. Then he would uncork a couple 130s. Then he was consistently in the high 120s and low 130s. In the last week, every once in a while he’d get (a long) one,” Chaika said. “Coach Pete Garcia worked with him … and did a great job fine-tuning it.”

Then it was all about applying what he practiced in the meet.

“I’m proud of myself. I’m happy with second place,” Pomianek said. “First place would have been nice, but improving that much? I’ll take that any day.”