Try new things.
Simple advice. Life-changing advice, too.
Three-time Olympian and American record-holder Kara Winger returned to her old high school Friday, reminding Skyview track and field athletes to keep an open mind about new adventures.
After all, she is a professional athlete because she tried something new.
Winger said she had never heard of the javelin before then-Skyview track and field coach Ron Heidenreich asked her to give it a shot when she was a freshman in high school.
“If I hadn’t tried it, I wouldn’t be here today,” Winger said. “That something new got me further than I could have imagined.”
Interestingly, she tried other events in the sport in middle school but was not impressed. She was going to play golf in high school instead. She ended up missing a mandatory golf meeting, and the rest is history.
She was Kara Patterson then, and she was a natural, finishing second in the state championship meet her freshman season. She followed that up with three consecutive state titles, graduated from Skyview in 2004 and went to Purdue University on a scholarship.
Since then, she has represented Team USA in three Olympic Games — Beijing, London, and Rio de Janeiro. In 2010, she threw the javelin 66.77 meters — 218 feet, 8 inches — for the American record.
Still competing, she told her audience Friday that she hopes to make her fourth Olympic team in 2020.
Also, she wants to better her own American record so her name change will be reflected in the official book. She set the mark before her marriage to fellow professional athlete Russ Winger.
She took questions from the athletes before heading out to the practice field to give workout pointers to Skyview’s javelin throwers.
Living in Colorado, she said she often comes back to visit Vancouver and has been known to practice, on her own, at her old school. This visit, though, she wanted to share her experiences with today’s high school athletes.
Winger said she will always have fond memories of high school, of lettering in three sports, and singing in the choir.
