Center Grove grad Garrett Messer made a strong first impression during his debut indoor season at Indiana University.
Submitted photo
It used to be that Garrett Messer’s preparation and focus were divided between two events — shot put and discus.
College life hasn’t exactly lightened the workload.
Messer, a 6-foot-6, 200-pound Center Grove graduate, is now a decathlete at Indiana University, a calling that has the freshman fine-tuning his skills in some events while he learns brand new aspects of others.
The Hoosiers begin the outdoor portion of their season on March 29 with two events, the Battle on the Bayou at LSU and the Raleigh Relays at North Carolina State.
Momentum isn’t an issue for Messer, who enjoyed his share of successes during the Hoosiers’ indoor track season in the heptathlon, which features seven events.
“I think I’ll probably be better at the decathlon because they do discus and javelin, which I have some history with,” said Messer, who placed sixth in the shot put and 16th in discus at last year’s state meet in Bloomington. “If we’re out there competing, I’m going to be giving 100%.
“I owe all of this to coach (Eric) Moore. He told me after my sophomore year that I would make a good decathlete, and I didn’t even know what that was.”
He does now.
During indoor track, the heptathlon is spread over two days with events always taking place in the same order.
The first day is devoted to the 60-meter dash, then long jump, shot put and high jump. The day two schedule starts with the 60-meter hurdles, then pole vault and the 1,000-meter run.
Indiana’s indoor season began at home on Dec. 8, when Messer posted a time of 2:41.5 in the 1,000 run, covered the hurdles in 8.79 seconds, high jumped 6-2¼ and made it 20-0½ in the long jump. Competing with a 16-pound shot put as opposed to the 12-pounder he used in high school, Messer threw 46-4.
A little more than a month later, the Hoosiers took part in the Commodore Challenge at Vanderbilt. Messer’s improvement was on display with him setting new personal bests in the 60 hurdles (8.44) and shot put (47-0¾).
“I have events both days that I compete really well at, but obviously the shot put and discus I’m good at,” Messer said. “But the hurdles are quickly becoming an event I really enjoy.
“My form has really come along well. I do have the build of a hurdler, but I didn’t expect to be running 8.4s this early.”
Messer caps off his initial collegiate indoor season this weekend at the Big Ten Championships in Geneva, Ohio.
Indiana assistant track coach Warren Bye, who co-coaches IU’s heptahletes and decathletes, likes the trajectory at the outset of Messer’s college track and field career. Bye admits pole vault is probably the event where the freshman needs the most work, but he isn’t worried.
“It’s a transition, just being a freshman and getting used to college life,” Bye said. “Garrett has adapted really well and just has a passion for it. He loves track and field, and is like a sponge. He loves the weight room, so he’s going to get stronger.
“And he’s doing 10 events, so there’s a maturity factor in that. I think he’s going to have a very good career in the decathlon.”
Messer’s goals won’t be any different at the three-day outdoor conference meet starting May 10 at the University of Michigan. He’ll just have 10 events on his plate instead of seven.
“I want to do whatever I can to help my team win conference, so I want to get on the podium,” Messer said. “It’s going to be really tough, because the Big Ten has some of the best decathletes in the country.”
