By Craig Morgan, thesundevils.com Writer
TEMPE, Ariz. -- The first piece of advice Ryan Whiting gave Jordan Clarke when Clarke arrived at Arizona State for the 2009 track and field season had nothing to do with the shot put. It was all about grooming.
"He had this shoulder length hair, an eyebrow ring, he was riding a skateboard, he had size 16 shoes and he wears checkered Vans all the time," Whiting said. "We were like, 'who is this person from Alaska?'"
Whiting wasn't expecting conformity, but he did perform a small service for a man he describes as his little brother.
"We sat him down on the porch one day and shaved his head," Whiting said, laughing. "He needed it. It was disgusting."
The Sun Devil alumni are grooming themselves for a far greater purpose these days. Whiting, 29, and Clarke, 25, are training with Sun Devil assistant coach David Dumble at ASU's Sun Angel Stadium in preparation for the U.S. Olympic Track and Field trials July 1-10 in Eugene, Oregon. If all goes according to plan, both will represent the United States and Sun Devil Athletics in the shot put at the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in August in Rio de Janeiro.
"If we both make the team I don't think there will have been two people in the same generation of throwers from the same school making the same Olympic team in the same event," Clarke said. "It would be amazing to do that with a friend."
Whiting and Clarke are two of the more decorated athletes in Sun Devil history.
Clarke, an eight-time All-American, won the shot put at the 2011 and 2012 NCAA Outdoor Championships as well as the 2012 and 2013 Indoor Championships. At the 2012 indoor meet, he set a career best mark of 20.86 meters (68-05.25). He also took gold at the Pan American Sports festival in 2014 in Mexico City.
Whiting, a 11-time All-American and six-time NCAA Champion, holds the school, collegiate indoor and NCAA Championships meet records in the shot put with a toss of 21.73m (71-03.50) at the 2008 meet. He also owns the school records in the outdoor shot put and discus with marks of 20.99m (68-10.50) and 62.08m (203-08), respectively, set in 2009.
He is a two-time World Indoor champion (2012, 2014) and took home silver at the World Outdoor Championships in 2013 in Moscow.
What Whiting has that Clarke does not is Olympic experience. Whiting competed at the 2012 Games in London, where he finished ninth -- a performance that is helping fuel his current drive for this summer's Games.
"I look at it as the one thing I don't have," he said. "The Olympics were pretty tough for me the first time. I didn't realize how overwhelming the whole experience was going to be."
Whiting said the distractions of the Olympic Village and the awesome scale of the Games were factors he couldn't anticipate while training.
"The guys who have gone once have a huge leg up on the guys going for the first time," he said. "The two guys I was there with were a lot more ready than I was and they were both in Beijing (2008); one was also in Athens (2004)."
Whiting has tried to impart as much of that experience as he can on Clarke since moving back to the Valley about three weeks ago from State College, Pennsylvania.
"Now that he's been to the world championships I have something to compare the experience to, and compared to the Olympics, those meets are nothing," Whiting said. "I don't know if there's a way to get yourself mentally ready for your first one but if there is I'm going to try to show him; try to help him learn from my mistakes."
Because it is only January, both men are focusing on a slow and steady progression until the Trials this summer. Clarke said they lift weights four or five days per week. They throw three days a week, and on two days each week they do drills and lift.
"The weight room emphasis is based off explosive training and power. We do a lot of heavy lifting; a lot of plyometrics, jumping, anything that's training you for explosive capability," Clarke said. "We don't throw every day primarily because it's really taxing on the body. It's much easier to stay healthy if you only throw three to four days a week."
The two are also focusing on technique, with Dumble serving as a meticulous and demanding guide.
"When you’re talking about a technical event, getting in the right position is very important; a couple inches can make a huge difference in a throw," said Dumble, who has worked steadily with Clarke since his graduation, but is regaining a sense of Whiting's needs. "Over time, I think Ryan has gotten a little off without a coach right there all the time. He's one of the best athletes I've ever worked with and he understands his body but he can't always see the small details."
Clarke said one of the most common misconceptions about throwers is that strength is everything.
"Being strong helps but there's a lot of efficiency you need in order to apply force to the implement," Clarke said. "If you break down the most basic components, there are two techniques. The glide technique is more linear and one one of the original techniques. Then there's the rotational spin, which is the technique we both use. It’s a longer path to accelerate the implement.
"If you look at it biomechanically, the longer you accelerate an object with more speed, the more it’s going to travel, but again, there's all sorts of efficiencies involved. We're trying to become more efficient with our entry, our middle, our power positions and our throw."
While Clarke is hoping to compete in a couple meets to prepare him for the Trials, Whiting is focused on getting healthy. He had a bone bruise on his femur at the end of last season and he has cartilage deterioration in his knee for which he is receiving PRP injections.
"It's only January so I don't have to be in peak shape to make the Olympic team until July 1," Clarke said. "Every week, I'm striving to get better in my training and technique."
In that regard, both are happy to have a familiar face pushing them every step of the way.
"It's definitely the goal to make it together, but if he makes it and I don’t I’ll be happy for him and vice versa," Whiting said. "You can't have any jealousy. You can be friendly rivals but as training partners we can’t hate each other or it’s not going to work. I'm lucky enough to be training with a friend and training is a lot easier with another person that actually cares about it as much as I do."