Fil-Am looms as new PH throwing marvel

MANILA, Philippines—Caleb Stuart wanted to use the college weights room badly that he was forced to join the track and field team. It was there that he found his true calling.

“I started to throw the hammer back in college and it didn’t come hard for me, so I decided to stick to it,” said the 24-year-old, who hails from Riverside, California.

The Fil-Am thrower from University of California-Riverside is tipped as a strong gold-medal contender in the 28th Southeast Asian Games in Singapore on June 5 to 16.

Stuart registered a career-best hammer throw of 68.66 meters, way over the SEA Games record of 62.23, set by Thailand’s Tantipong Phetchaiya in the 2013 Burma (Myanmar) Games, and almost six meters shy of the Olympic standard (74.0).

He’s in town for the 2015 Philippine National Open-Invitational Athletics Championships set to begin tomorrow at the San Luis Sports Complex in Sta. Cruz, Laguna.

“I’m going to throw the best that I can at the SEA Games,” said Stuart on Tuesday during the Philippine Sportswriters Association forum at Shakey’s Malate. “With my training in the US, I honestly feel that I could perform well.”

The 6-foot-2, 250 lb Stuart could also smash the SEA Games record in the shot put and has had decent performances in the discus.

Stuart recently heaved 17.88m in the shot put, easily eclipsing the  SEA Games mark of 17.64 set by Thai Chatchawal Polyiam in the 2011 Games in Palembang, Indonesia.