Sam’s career on the track was short lived: in eighth grade he tripped over a hurdle in his first race and was quickly told he would now be stuck throwing discus. But as the saying goes, when life makes you trip over a hurdle, maybe it means you can throw the disc kind of far with nine years of practice. And that’s exactly what he did.
In high school Sam broke the New Jersey freshman, sophomore, junior and ultimately the Jersey state record for the discus throw on his way to two national titles and the fifth furthest throw of any high schooler in US history at 218’4”. And he did all this while nerding out spending hours playing the bass and piano, becoming an AP Scholar with Honor and devoting over 100 hours to helping disabled children play sports on the weekend.
After high school Sam made the arduous journey down I-95 (a nearly 90 minute drive) to the University of Pennsylvania. In the process of graduating Cum Laude with a degree in Economics and interning on Wall Street, working 15 hour days, he continued working with his dad every weekend to hone in on his technique. Those weekend mornings paid off. Sam would go on to win the Ivy League Championship every single year in the discus, become a three-time first-team All-American, an NCAA Champion, and NCAA National Scholar Athlete of the Year. Last year, in his attempt to qualify for the 2016 Olympic team, Sam broke the American Collegiate Record with a massive toss of 67.45 meters and finished the year ranked #8 in the World.
However, no good story is complete without a major setback. At the Olympic Trials, Sam picked a bad day to have a bad day and finished out of contention for a spot on the team. But instead of giving up and going back to Wall Street, he has doubled down and moved to rural Pennsylvania to train on a farm with his coach, Dane Miller. They both are looking forward to a strong 2017 season and seeing what great training, great coaching and a circle next to a goat pasture can bring.