Exeter’s Logan Wegman has a shot at something very special
Logan Wegman had modest ambitions when he first picked up a shot put last spring.
“I was just hoping to hit 45 by the end of the year,” he said.
The Exeter sophomore did a little better than. As Memorial Day approached he found himself sharing the circle with the best throwers in the state, topping out at just over 53 feet and scoring PRs with nearly every toss at the PIAA Championships. He earned a fifth-place medal and finished higher than any 10th-grader in the event.
“It was really exciting to be able to be there, and place, too,” he said.
That was some 30 pounds and five feet ago. Wegman, and his throws, have grown by leaps and bounds since and he has snuck up on Berks Catholic’s Brady Mider, the premier thrower in the state.
“After states last year, I said to Logan: ‘All I want you to do is keep eating, keep lifting,’ ” said Exeter throws coach Kevin Foehl, “and he’s done that. He’s a beast.”
Neither Mider nor Wegman were at their best Saturday in the chilly, rainy conditions at the John H. Shaner Meet at Wyomissing. Mider won it with a toss of 59-3.25; Wegman was next at 55-0. No one else in the field topped 50.
It was not a day for records or PRs but the hulking 6-4, 275-pound Wegman stood tall, as usual. He has yet to reach that rarified air of 60 feet – an altitude state champion Mider cruises at – but Wegman is fast getting there.
Just last week he recorded his personal best, a 58-3 in a dual meet against Daniel Boone. That throw broke a school record that had been on the books since 1965. It went 18 inches further than his first throw of the season and 2 ½ feet better than his best marks of his rookie season, which ended just 11 months ago.
“I wanted to come into this season and build upon it,” Wegman said of last year’s best throw, a 53-7 at Shippensburg during the state championships. “I’m already throwing way farther than what I placed in states.”
Wegman is only just tapping into his potential in the event. Thirteen months ago he was under 40 feet; now he has the sixth-best throw in the state this spring. Mechanically there are things Foehl would like to refine, adjustments that could help him get to 60 feet and beyond. There’s time for that.
“Logan is one of the strongest kids that I’ve ever worked with,” Foehl said. “Look at the size difference in him now, compared to last year. He’s a big kid and he hasn’t hit his peak. I think he can throw 60, 61 this year. Next year? 65, maybe 70.”
Wegman finished fifth at the District 3 Meet last year with a throw of 49-11. He’s currently ranked No. 2 in the district in the shot behind Mider, the only thrower in the state to reach 60 feet.
It helps him, no doubt, to have the state’s best thrower in his eyesight nearly every weekend. Two years ago Mider competed and learned going head-to-head with eventual PIAA champ Jven Williams of Wyomissing. Now Wegman has the same opportunity.
“I use it to motivate me and push me to throw farther,” Wegman said of the competition. “I use Brady as the bar to what I want to be. He’s a great guy, and I like competing with him. It just makes me strive for something.”
Wegman competes against Mider in the discus, as well. He’s closing in on him there, too. Mider came up with a PR Friday at the Hoka/Bryn Mawr Running Co. Henderson Invitational, where he threw 170-5. On the same day Wegman threw 163-5 to finish second at the Shaner, to teammate Josiah Newman-Kegerise.
As tempting as it is to chase Mider, Wegman’s coach doesn’t want him thinking like that.
“Our goal is to win states,” Foehl said. “I love Brady; great guy, great family. My main goal is to have Josiah win states (in the discus) and have Logan win states (in the shot). Beating Brady is not our goal. Being the best is our goal. That’s one of the things I try to push on Josiah and I push on Logan.”
Good as he is on the track Wegman’s best sport is football. He was a two-way all-league lineman last season and drew immediate notice from college coaches. He has a 4.0 GPA and has been offered scholarships by at least 18 schools over the past four months, a list that includes several Ivy League schools – Harvard, Yale and Columbia – as well as the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
