Midwest Conference Champion Adam Kent Says "Dive In and Dream On"

Knox junior Adam Kent won the Midwest Conference Championship this season in the indoor track and field competition. Throwing a 35 pound hammer weight, Kent says it was his work with his coach in the off season that helped him. "Last year I worked with the coach to perfect my spin, and this season I broke my personal record three times to win."

After bouncing back from a back injury and straining a knee tendon, and focusing on strength training, Kent turned in a career-best year in 2009 that included a career-high in the weight throw. His biggest goal of the season came at the Midwest Conference when he tossed a 52 feet ½ inch mark.

"I was jumping for joy. I have wanted to do this since my first year here. This year I was more focused on technique. All Conference is a title I am glad I got."

This track and field marvel is getting better with each passing competition. He has set the school record for weight throw on four different occasions. Kent completed his third indoor track and field season with the Prairie Fire by breaking a school record and breaking his own personal best record three times. At the outdoor track and field Central College Invitational in Pella, Iowa, Kent broke the Prairie Fire record for hammer throw. The record throw of 134' 2", was previously held by Ben Loy '04 with a 127' 7" throw, and surpassed Kent's own record of 127' 3".

Growing up he pitched baseball and played basketball, but says he did not make the high school teams. It was riding in the car with his mother when Kent first saw people throwing a javelin. "I saw them throwing this long spear and I said I want to do that."

He added the discus and javelin and later the shot put and continued with the sport after high school because he said he loved it.

Kent is pursuing a degree in environmental science. He hopes to research the affects of the zebra mussel on Lake Michigan. "I love scuba diving. I want to find a way to stop the growth of the zebra mussels and maybe find a species to eat them without disturbing the natural habitat."

Throwers may seem a little wilder or a little more unconventional, but nothing says ‘a breed apart' more than scuba diving.

In his hometown area of Lake Stevens, Washington the Lake Stevens High School graduate has spent much of his spare time diving into, what any untrained bystander would call, the raging and unforgiving sea.

He straps one or more gas tanks to his back that are connected to an air hose and demand regulator (controls the flow of air so the air pressure within your lungs equals the pressure of the water).

Then, Kent with his father, ventures to underwater habitats looking for shipwrecks or climbing sea walls. It is a pastime that helped make Adam Kent the environmental studies major and photography minor he is today.

He started scuba diving when he was 16 years old. Armed only with a camera and a flashlight, Kent and his father search for residents of the underwater homes. "We've seen a full Pacific octopus with an arm span of 6 feet and sprawled out, 60 feet under the water, on the bottom of the sea floor."

He admits that the first time he saw an octopus with saucer size tentacles, he wasted half of his air just trying to breathe calmly. Kent completes the sea story and says that once he composed himself, he started snapping pictures. "The octopus was just hanging out. They are a threat only if you try to get them out of their space or cause them harm."

Kent also is a member of the Sigma Nu fraternity and has been selected as Player of the Week three times during his athletic career with the Prairie Fire.

Throwing his weight around, Kent is shooting for a gold medal in the next summer Olympics. His other goals include a master's or PhD in marine biology. "In ten years, I plan on living the life. But, I won't have a desk job. No suit and tie. I want to be by the water."

With such a bull's eye in sight, Kent stands a good chance of hitting the target.

Shot- 46' 8 3/4"
Weight- 52' 2 1/2" (School record, 1st place MWC 2009)

Outdoor

Shot-44' 11 1/2"
Discus- 129' 2"
Hammer- 134' 2"
Javelin- 126' 1"