By Ken Hansard
For someone who was named an Honorable Mention All-AVCTL lineman in football and who was a state qualifier and Second Team All-AVCTL in wrestling, throwing weights around in track’s field events may seem second nature.
However, for Salina Central senior Alonzo Guillen, it never came easily; he had to work hard to get where he is now, “I’ve came a long way in the last four years – from being on JV my first three years to now being our top discus thrower. It was definitely a big jump.”
A “big jump” might be a bit of an understatement. Guillen, whose P.R. in the discus last year was 130 feet, recently unleashed a new P.R. of 155’2” at the Topeka Seaman Invite, a 25-foot increase, “During the offseason I worked on getting a lot stronger. It makes it a lot easier to throw heavy objects around.”
As a senior and full-fledged varsity thrower, Guillen realizes that his younger teammates now look to him for inspiration, “I think I’m a big motivator and a leader on the team. We have to understand that we all have off days, but we still can’t lose confidence in our abilities.”
Guillen’s ambition goes beyond P.R.’s and throwing varsity. He wants to finish his high school career on a podium, “I’ve set a goal to try to make bigger throws every meet and then hopefully to compete and place at state.” Next fall, Guillen will be attending Butler County Community College. He will play football and would like to pursue a degree in the medical field.
