Date: Fri 11-Aug-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: KIMH

Illustration: I

Quick Words:

Russ-Bennett-Shot-Put

Full Text:

Russ Bennett: Hoping For A Shot At Better Things

B Y K IM J. H ARMON

He has always had the tools, it seems, the ability to hurl an eight- and

12-pound shot put a long way, but ever since Russ Bennett picked one up for

the time in the seventh grade, he has been involved in a never-ending battle

to improve.

He has had success, too . . . from his shot put state class title as a

sophomore to his four successive years of qualifying for the National Junior

Olympics championship meet and his gold medal performances in the annual state

Nutmeg Games.

" Russ is a very determined athlete, " said Russ Weiss, who coached his shot

put protege as a freshman and senior. " He worked many hours trying to improve

himself and right now he has some good techniques. What he has to work on is

refining those techniques. "

Russ, with the body of a football player or a weight-lifter, has always had

the strength to throw the shot put. But when he picked up an eight-pound ball

in seventh-grade gym class, what he had to learn was technique.

And he basically had to learn it himself.

" It seemed pretty easy at the time, " Russ admitted. " With my size, it made

it even easier. I was taught the basics, but I had to work on the technique

myself. "

It got him a good start for his high school track and field career.

" I got a lot of third places, " he said, " because there was always two

people on the team better than me in each event. We would almost always sweep

the weight events, ending up 1-2-3. "

It was during freshman year that, working with coach Weiss, Russ was able to

do some more refining of his technique while heaving a shot put that had

suddenly gotten four pounds heavier.

It was also during his freshman year that Russ had a brief taste of football

and wrestling, sports his body suggested he was more suited for. In the fall

of his freshman year, Russ played a lot of jayvee football and then moved to

varsity for the final games of the regular season and on into the state

championship. " I was kind of pressured into (playing), " Russ admitted. " I

did pretty well, but I told the coach, honestly, I couldn't do much for the

team because I wasn't into it as much as the others. Even though I had the

size and the potential, I just didn't have the heart for it. "

With his football career put to bed, Russ tried out for the wrestling team,

but after just two meets he was saddled with a knee injury that has plagued

him from time to time throughout the last three seasons.

But it hasn't stopped him from competing. Each summer, Russ has competed at

the annual Nutmeg Games. And this summer, for his last time in the high school

division, he brought home a gold medal in the shot and a silver medal in the

javelin. He has also spent each summer since his freshman year competing in

the Junior Olympics and each summer he has done well enough at the regional

competition to earn a spot at the National Junior Olympic championships.

" That's when I first really noticed I had a chance (in the shot put), in

Junior Olympics, " Russ said. " I took first in the state and second in the

region and qualified for the national meet in my first year. "

The extra exposure - and the constant practice - helped him for his sophomore

track and field season, when he won a CIAC Class L state championship in the

shot put. It was the kind of thing that earned Russ some attention from the

University of Connecticut track and field team which, unaware that he was a

sophomore, tried to lure him to Storrs to become a Husky.

But the Huskies had to wait for Russ to make it through his junior and senior

year, neither of which quite reached the success of his sophomore season,

although this spring, as a senior, Russ said, " I did pretty well, but it just

wasn't my best. I've hit a plateau that I've been stuck on for a while. I'm

getting close to 50, just inching my ways up there since my sophomore or

junior year. "

Russ medaled in the CIAC Class L meet, but failed to bring home a medal in the

State Opens, which would have gone a long way towards securing him a spot on

the UConn track and field team.

He is hoping his success at the class meet will mean something.

" The competition is a big jump from high school to college, " said coach

Weiss. " Russ has a powerful upper torso, but what I was trying to do in the

latter part of the season was work on his quickness. I told him that, when he

went on to college, they would probably get him to lose some weight and then

do some more work on his quickness. "

Coach Weiss believes Russ has the potential to become a solid member of the

UConn track team . . . even in the hammer throw, an event with which Russ has

had little experience. And in his last competition with the 16-pound shot, the

size of the collegiate shot, Russ earned a first-place finish with a throw of

42 feet.

Russ will be focussed on trying to earn a spot on the track and field team,

but he will also be focussed on his academics and a challenging major in the

neural science area.

" I want to just try to make the team at first and keep my grades up at the

same time, " he said. " That's going to be the challenge. "

The challenge will also be fitting in a music career. Russ has been in the

Newtown High School band for four years, traveling to Pasadena for the Rose

Bowl parade, and now has a bass-line set waiting for him at UConn.

There's a lot of stuff to fit on his plate, but Russ Bennett has the

determination to make it all work.