![Oxford senior Connor Bandel posted a 65-foot, 1-inch shot put this spring, eclipsing the MHSAA state-meet record of 641/2 set nearly 20 years ago. Bandel’s personal best of 204-2 in discus puts him within range of the state record of 210-1 set in 2012.]()
Oxford senior Connor Bandel posted a 65-foot, 1-inch shot put this spring, eclipsing the MHSAA state-meet record of 641/2 set nearly 20 years ago. Bandel’s personal best of 204-2 in discus puts him within range of the state record of 210-1 set in 2012.
Runners have the 4-minute mile. But aside from that famous benchmark, what are the elite standards for track and field athletes in other events?
For those in shot put and discus, they may as well be whatever Connor Bandel is throwing this week. The Oxford senior is threatening to eclipse the state’s all-time best marks in both events.
This spring, he has posted a 65-foot, 1-inch shot put — farther than the MHSAA state-meet record of 64 feet, one-half inch set by Kalamazoo Loy Norrix’s Todd Duckett nearly 20 years ago. And although the all-class discus record is more recent — Walled Lake Central’s Cullen Prena threw 210-1 in 2012 — Bandel’s personal record of 204-2 puts him in striking range of that one, too.
If Bandel’s sheer numbers weren’t enough, it’s also that those performances are clearly dominant. In the shot, he’s listed on michtrack.org as having six of the state’s top-seven throws, and on athletic.net, he’s about 10 feet ahead of anyone else in Division 1. In discus, his margin over the next-best thrower is more than 40 feet.
“My biggest thing is, I’ve always thought that I really wanted to leave a legacy behind, not only for the high school, but for throwers in the state of Michigan,” Bandel said. “My goal coming into this year was I wanted to be in the discussion for one of the best throwers ever to come out of Michigan, and if I keep going the way that I am, I really hope that I can achieve that.”
Bandel, who has signed with University of Florida, first joined the Oxford Middle School track team in seventh grade.
“I just had a lot of energy, and one of my teachers told me to go out for the team,” he said. “I did the 100 and 200 meters, and I did high jump, and I was never really very good at any of those. I was kind of slow, and I didn’t jump very high.”
Tired of finishing behind the “smaller, quicker, little kids,” Bandel decided he’d try the shot put, and he found a home in the ring.
“Actually, in middle school, I wasn’t even the best kid on my team (in shot put) at the time,” he said. “There was another kid who was bigger than me, and he didn’t work so much, and I worked so much more than he did, and I ended up getting better than he was.”
And if Bandel has a secret to his success, that is it.
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“I think the biggest thing is the time commitment, which most people don’t realize,” he said. “You can be a good thrower only doing in-season, but doing the lifting, the drills and the throwing out of season is really going to make the difference.”
“It’s his dedication,” Oxford throws coach George Schraut said. “He finally decided this was something he wanted to do. He decided to lift weights, he decided to listen. As a seventh- and eighth-grader, he threw it like a baseball. It’s the shot ‘put’ for a reason; it’s not a shot ‘throw.’ Throwing it will tear your arm out, so he learned. And he grew. And he’s matured tremendously in the past four years.”
![Spin move: In the shot put, Bandel gave up the glide technique and adopted a rotational release during his sophomore year, increasing his potential in the event.]()
Spin move: In the shot put, Bandel gave up the glide technique and adopted a rotational release during his sophomore year, increasing his potential in the event.
At the start of his freshman year, Bandel put the shot 35 feet and was around 80 in discus, hardly distinctive numbers. But he has shown a constant upswing since — topping out at 48 and 130 by the end of that season, getting to the point where he won the Oakland Activities Association championship in both events.
“It was definitely a dramatic difference,” he said. “Every year since then I’ve been trying to improve 10 feet in the shot put, like 15 to 20 in the discus. I ended up going up to 167 in discus (as a sophomore), and then 193 the next year, and this year 204. In shot put, it was 48, then 55, then 61 and now 65.”
“He has fun because his improvements have not just been by inches,” track and field coach Matt Johnson said. “He throws 6 feet, 7 feet farther in the discus. He just thrives on doing his best every day in the ring, and always performs in the weight room. Training, in the off-season, it’s the same thing.”
Bandel, the reigning Division 1 state champion in both events, became the fifth high school thrower in state history to break the 200-foot mark in discus during last month’s Oxford Invitational.
“Previously, my record was only 192-11, and then earlier in the competition I threw 197, and I was like, ‘Ok, I’m really happy with that.’ ” he said. “But on my last throw, I decided to just go for it … and I just got a really nice throw. I caught the wind just right, and I ended up just barely staying in the ring and not fouling it. I knew it was a really good throw right when it left my hand. When I saw the tape at the end (for the measurement), I was just so excited. I was starting to think I might never break the 200 mark, which was a huge, huge barrier for me.”
Standing 6 feet 4 and weighing 230 pounds, Bandel isn’t as bulky as most elite throwers. But he makes up for that with agility and precision — particularly in the shot put, as he gave up the glide technique and adopted a rotational release during his sophomore year.
“I feel that what I lack in some of my strength and my weight areas, I can make up for in my speed and my technique areas,” he said. “I definitely think I’ll be one of the faster throwers against the competitors I’ll be going up against. With all of the weight that you carry, sometimes it slows you down a little bit, so if you can move your feet as quick as possible, that’s usually going to speed up your technique and make you throw a little bit further.”
For all his success, Bandel remains grounded and humble. Johnson praises his positive attitude, and Schraut likes his leadership — even if he tends to take a critical look at every one of Bandel’s attempts.
“I still find fault in it, because I know there’s more,” Schraut said. “I don’t think anyone has ever had the perfect throw. There’s always something wrong with it. Even when (world-record holder) Randy Barnes went 75 feet, if you look at that throw, technically it’s not that good. So, there’s always something to work on. You can never be satisfied with how you’ve thrown. If you throw 65 today, you should be throwing 66 the next time. Never be satisfied.”
Still, Bandel counts his coaches among his vast support system — which also includes his teammates, his parents (David and Danielle), his sister (Darien, an Oakland University volleyball player) and even Prena, whom he has consulted for advice.
“They’re the reason I’m here right now,” he said. “They’re a huge support for me. They push me even more than I thought they could. And not only our high school coach, but other coaches that have helped me from the general area. With throwing, it’s not quite like the other sports. It’s ‘Let’s try and break this record together.’ It’s not like a head-to-head competition, let’s try to compete against this record and let’s try to get it broken.”
Bandel just might do that a couple of times over.
