Byers Heads to Nationals

Matt Byers, a three-sport athlete at Wichita East entering his senior year this August, will compete in the javelin throw at the US Junior Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Columbus, Ohio, this weekend. Byers, who has one of the top javelin throws in the nation this high school outdoor season, leaves today to drive to Columbus with father, Brian, the head football coach at East. At this spring's state track meet over Memorial Day Weekend, Byers held the 6A state meet record for minutes, throwing the javelin 219'8", which stands as the fourth-longest throw of the high school outdoor season in the nation. But Johannes Swanepoel of Shawnee Mission South stepped up his third throw right after Byers and threw the javelin 221'2". Swanepoel won the state meet with the throw, which is the third-longest in the nation. Kyle Smith of Daphne High (Ala.) and Justin Shirk of Central Dauphin (Penn.), one-two in the nation this outdoor season, will also compete at nationals, though Swanepoel will not attend. This will be Byers' first off-season competition in the javelin of his career, and he will battle a back strain he suffered before the Kansas state meet which has kept him from working out the past couple of weeks. "Usually, as soon as track is over, we put down the javelin and don't touch it again until the next track season," said Byers' father, Brian, who is also the throwing coach at East. "He'll usually play MAYB this time of year. "He strained his back at the state meet in the last prelim. We went out last week to see if he could throw. We were going to go to Albuquerque for a meet, but didn't make it." According to his father, Byers, who is also the quarterback on the football team and got several starts at guard for the East basketball team this past winter, has received recruiting interest for track from Iowa, Oklahoma and Arkansas. Byers cannot decide whether he wants to try to play football in college, as well, however.