Leavans breaks through in shot put

Tommy Leavans knew early on he was heading to a breakthrough season in shot put.

Competing in the first meet of the season, the Grade 10 student at Welland Centennial threw the shot a metre farther than he had ever done before.

“It gave me a lot of confidence heading into the higher meets,” he said.

The 16-year-old Welland resident matched his feat of last season by winning the Zone 3, Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association and Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations’ South Regional meets and he headed into the OFSAA championships in Guelph ranked fifth. Last year, he placed 11th at the provincial championships.

His first throw of the day at OFSAA was 16.72 metres and that held up as the best throw until the fourth round when Carlton Place’s Lewis Spencer had a toss of 17.52 metres.

“I knew it was a good throw,” he said.

Leavans would end up with a silver medal in the junior boys division.

“I didn’t really think that much about the silver, but I was smiling,” he said. “That was about it.”

His goal heading into the season was to place top eight at OFSAA and he feels the biggest difference from last year was the coaching he received from Jason Higgins.

“He helped me out with technique and stuff,” he said.

Leavans trained three or four times a week after school and is already looking forward to next season.

“I am going to try and get first next year,” he said. “I will probably have to work out more.”

The 5-foot-11, 230-pounder had a busy day last when he won his medal. After competing in Guelph, Leavans drove to Cambridge so he could suit up for the Niagara Junior Varsity Spears football team in its road game versus the Cambridge Lions. Niagara won 19-18.

“It was an easy choice to make,” the defensive end said. “I didn’t want to miss the game.”

He describes football at his primary sport, but that may change.

“I am starting to get good at shot put,” he said.