Feature by Craig Morgan
TEMPE, Ariz. -- When Kyle Long was a junior at Hempfield High School in Landisville, Pennsylvania, he attended a national meet in Oregon and took third behind two college students.
"I thought, 'I'm the business,'" Long said. "'I'm money.'"
When Long was a senior, he won the Pennsylvania state championship in both the shot put and the discus. His redshirt freshman year at ASU, he took 12th in the shot put, 10th in the discus and 11th in the hammer at the Pac-12 Championships.
"I was like, 'oh, that's pretty good for a freshman,'" Long said.
As that meet drew near its end, however, former Sun Devils throwing coach David Dumble delivered a sobering assessment.
"He said, 'we're going to need more from you,'" Long recalled. "I was pretty surprised. I couldn't figure out how he could say that to me. I was just a freshman.
"That summer, I had this big epiphany. I looked at our all-time top 10 board and I was thinking, [former ASU thrower] Ryan Whiting threw 66 feet as a redshirt freshman in the shot and I didn't break 60 my entire college career so I thought, 'I'm really not anything. If I don't score points at Pac-12s, who am I going to be on a national scale?'
"I thought a lot about this while I was doing my summer workouts. I looked down on the ground on the platform and there's this big "AS" for Arizona State and I'm like, 'if I'm not representing them properly, why am I here?'"
"I wanted to be an All-American; that's really the big thing you work for," he said. "Coming in to ASU, I kind of thought I'd get there one day but coming into this year I thought, 'what have I been doing? Enough. I'm qualifying for nationals, I'm going to be an All-American.'"
Like fellow thrower Maggie Ewen, whom Long is dating, he had to navigate a transition from Dumble to new throwing coach Brian Blutreich.
"Everything was radically different," he said. "Transfer of energy; the ideas on what we were doing. Our old style of throwing was incredibly rotational, but if you even said that word around Blue he'd snap at you. He was like, 'we're cutting that out.' The technique isn't hard once you've got reps and reps and reps. It's just the concepts of what you're trying to do and that's what we had to break down."
Blutreich said Long had two advantages working in his favor.
"He's willing to listen and learn and that's the biggest thing," Blutreich said. "The people who want to be really good want to know the straight scoop. When I was an elite level athlete, I didn't want to hear how great I was. I wanted my coach to tell me how to get greater.
"Kyle has done so well in listening, slowing it down and working at it. It's helped him become more consistent."
Ewen said Long's work ethic inspired her.
"He's all about 'no looking back, no holding back, I'm going to do everything I can do 100 percent of the time,'" Ewen said. "Blue always tells us 'you have to win every day.' Everyone at this level is so close to the same talent level so you have to beat them in every single facet of your life. You have to eat better, train better, throw better and I think that's really what Kyle is. Being around that so often has helped me to embody that as well."
When Long qualified for the NCAA Championship in the discus, he found himself strangely calm in Eugene. While the other throwers were sizing each other up in what he described as "hostile" weight room workouts two days before the meet, Long found himself joking around with an old high school friend who had also qualified.
When he stepped into the ring on June 9 to compete, he realized he was chewing gum for the first time in a long time and it was relaxing him even more. Long thought he needed to top 58 meters to climb into the top 8, score, and earn All-American status.
He did that on his second attempt with a mark of 58.08m (190-7), but he had to wait out the second flight's first three throws to see if it would be enough.
"I told Blue, 'I'm either going to love that throw or hate it,'" he said.
The throw was enough to advance him into the finals in eighth place, where he would remain to earn All-American status. With his mom and dad both in attendance, and his college career now over, Long was overcome with emotion.
"It was so relieving to know I could do this," he said. "It was this huge weight off my shoulders. It was a really good sense of closure, of competing in a team sport, of competing for someone other than myself.
"My mom never watches prelims because she gets too nervous. She'll only watch finals -- ever since sophomore year of high school -- so when I made it there -- she was watching. My dad came in from out of town. All the stars aligned and it was this surreal moment."
As the moment soaked in, however, Long wasn't thinking about individual achievement. He was thinking about the Sun Devil legacy.
"I'm a big team guy," he said. "I played team sports growing up and hockey taught me that.
"After [former Sun Devil thrower] Jordan Clarke had left there was no one really great at ASU any more. I didn't want it to be on my shoulders that the program declined so that was the big reason I decided I had to be an All-American in terms of the men's program.
"Obviously, Maggie is doing what she's doing, setting a national record in the hammer and winning titles, but I felt like had to keep the men's program on board. For that, it was really satisfying to finish the way I did."
TEMPE, Ariz. -- When Kyle Long was a junior at Hempfield High School in Landisville, Pennsylvania, he attended a national meet in Oregon and took third behind two college students.
"I thought, 'I'm the business,'" Long said. "'I'm money.'"
When Long was a senior, he won the Pennsylvania state championship in both the shot put and the discus. His redshirt freshman year at ASU, he took 12th in the shot put, 10th in the discus and 11th in the hammer at the Pac-12 Championships.
"I was like, 'oh, that's pretty good for a freshman,'" Long said.
As that meet drew near its end, however, former Sun Devils throwing coach David Dumble delivered a sobering assessment.
"He said, 'we're going to need more from you,'" Long recalled. "I was pretty surprised. I couldn't figure out how he could say that to me. I was just a freshman.
"That summer, I had this big epiphany. I looked at our all-time top 10 board and I was thinking, [former ASU thrower] Ryan Whiting threw 66 feet as a redshirt freshman in the shot and I didn't break 60 my entire college career so I thought, 'I'm really not anything. If I don't score points at Pac-12s, who am I going to be on a national scale?'
"I thought a lot about this while I was doing my summer workouts. I looked down on the ground on the platform and there's this big "AS" for Arizona State and I'm like, 'if I'm not representing them properly, why am I here?'"
His next two seasons were a series of frustrations, with Long finishing just outside the regional qualifying marks for the NCAA Championship. Entering his final season at ASU, Long decided he had had enough disappointment.Our student-athletes are competing for the name of the front of the uniform and our community#FuelOurFuture pic.twitter.com/sEwxsnTNcB
— Sun Devil Club (@sundevilclub) June 21, 2017
"I wanted to be an All-American; that's really the big thing you work for," he said. "Coming in to ASU, I kind of thought I'd get there one day but coming into this year I thought, 'what have I been doing? Enough. I'm qualifying for nationals, I'm going to be an All-American.'"
Like fellow thrower Maggie Ewen, whom Long is dating, he had to navigate a transition from Dumble to new throwing coach Brian Blutreich.
"Everything was radically different," he said. "Transfer of energy; the ideas on what we were doing. Our old style of throwing was incredibly rotational, but if you even said that word around Blue he'd snap at you. He was like, 'we're cutting that out.' The technique isn't hard once you've got reps and reps and reps. It's just the concepts of what you're trying to do and that's what we had to break down."
Blutreich said Long had two advantages working in his favor.
"He's willing to listen and learn and that's the biggest thing," Blutreich said. "The people who want to be really good want to know the straight scoop. When I was an elite level athlete, I didn't want to hear how great I was. I wanted my coach to tell me how to get greater.
"Kyle has done so well in listening, slowing it down and working at it. It's helped him become more consistent."
Ewen said Long's work ethic inspired her.
"He's all about 'no looking back, no holding back, I'm going to do everything I can do 100 percent of the time,'" Ewen said. "Blue always tells us 'you have to win every day.' Everyone at this level is so close to the same talent level so you have to beat them in every single facet of your life. You have to eat better, train better, throw better and I think that's really what Kyle is. Being around that so often has helped me to embody that as well."
When Long qualified for the NCAA Championship in the discus, he found himself strangely calm in Eugene. While the other throwers were sizing each other up in what he described as "hostile" weight room workouts two days before the meet, Long found himself joking around with an old high school friend who had also qualified.
When he stepped into the ring on June 9 to compete, he realized he was chewing gum for the first time in a long time and it was relaxing him even more. Long thought he needed to top 58 meters to climb into the top 8, score, and earn All-American status.
He did that on his second attempt with a mark of 58.08m (190-7), but he had to wait out the second flight's first three throws to see if it would be enough.
"I told Blue, 'I'm either going to love that throw or hate it,'" he said.
The throw was enough to advance him into the finals in eighth place, where he would remain to earn All-American status. With his mom and dad both in attendance, and his college career now over, Long was overcome with emotion.
All the feels! Kyle hugs his mom after his final college meet!
— SunDevilTFXC (@SunDevilTFXC) June 10, 2017
"I remember at age 12 you saying, 'I'm going to throw at Arizona State.'" pic.twitter.com/ptWMmxBuz5
"It was so relieving to know I could do this," he said. "It was this huge weight off my shoulders. It was a really good sense of closure, of competing in a team sport, of competing for someone other than myself.
"My mom never watches prelims because she gets too nervous. She'll only watch finals -- ever since sophomore year of high school -- so when I made it there -- she was watching. My dad came in from out of town. All the stars aligned and it was this surreal moment."
As the moment soaked in, however, Long wasn't thinking about individual achievement. He was thinking about the Sun Devil legacy.
"I'm a big team guy," he said. "I played team sports growing up and hockey taught me that.
"After [former Sun Devil thrower] Jordan Clarke had left there was no one really great at ASU any more. I didn't want it to be on my shoulders that the program declined so that was the big reason I decided I had to be an All-American in terms of the men's program.
"Obviously, Maggie is doing what she's doing, setting a national record in the hammer and winning titles, but I felt like had to keep the men's program on board. For that, it was really satisfying to finish the way I did."
Podium'd! ?? #NCAATF #ForksUp pic.twitter.com/FaNo9ii8fL
— SunDevilTFXC (@SunDevilTFXC) June 10, 2017