Parker will be home for first meet
James Parker will be the indoor track athlete to look for this weekend at both the Wilson Motor Invitational on Friday and the Idaho State Meet on Saturday.
A six-time All-American, this 5-foot-11 senior is the most honored returning track athlete this season.
“James is a great competitor,” said head coach Gregg Gensel. “He focuses on the task at hand and attacks it and goes after it.”
Parker was unable to compete in the first indoor meet this season because of personal reasons, so he said that he is especially looking forward to competing at home Friday.
“I want to make it special and get it going for this year,” he said. “I want to make it a good one.”
Parker has gone to nationals every indoor and outdoor season since he began at USU. This year he plans to be able to compete in the weight throw again and hopefully in the shot put, he said.
Last year, Parker broke his own school record and set a new stadium record in the 35-pound weight throw with a toss of 71’2” at the Wilson Motor Invitational. He also earned All-American honors when he finished sixth in the weight throw at the NCAA Indoor Championships, and was named Mountain Pacific Sports Federation champion in the weight throw.
In the outdoor season, he earned All-American honors again when he finished fourth in the hammer throw at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. He was also the Big West champion in the hammer.
In 1999, Parker set a personal record in the hammer throw (233’7”), finishing fifth at nationals in outdoor track and earning All-American honors for the fourth time.
In indoor track, he set the school record in the weight throw for the first time with a throw of 68’5 1/4” and earned another All-American title in the same event.
Parker took two years off to serve an LDS mission in Brazil from 1996-1998.
Before that, in 1995, he won three conference championships in the outdoor track season to earn Big West Conference Athlete of the Year honors. He won the hammer throw, the shot put and the discus at the conference meet and earned All-American honors in the hammer throw, finishing ninth at the national competition.
In indoor track, he earned the All-American title for the first time when he placed ninth at the national championship in the weight throw.
Parker has been throwing the discus since seventh grade and the shot put and hammer throw since 11th grade.
He attended Northridge High School in Layton, where he was twice state champion in the shot put and once in the discus. In the hammer throw, he earned second at nationals.
“I wish I had a bunch of him,” said Gensel of Parker.