Mickey Dollens Takes Aim on Excellence

[MrMustang1965]

After several months of sweat and aching lungs and searing pain, local track & field athletes will see how their best stacks up at the regionals and state meet.

For Bartlesville, its regional test is slated Saturday at Owasso.

This competition will determine which athletes get to go to state and which will hang up their cleats and shorts for the summer - or forever in the case of seniors.

Bartlesville's two-most successful athletes this season have been two field event warriors - Noah Hartsock in the high jump and Mickey Dollens in the shot put.

Each of them has claimed several medals as they've strained themselves to push up their level of performance.

For Dollens, he's trying to make it to state for the second-straight year.

Armed with a career-best 51-feet-1-inch thrown earlier this season, Dollens has proven he's got the right stuff to get it done.

But, for the Bartlesville senior, shot put this year is a means to an end.

His total focus is on preparing for his upcoming stint as a Southern Methodist University football player.

“I do shot put and discus, like I do tennis, to keep my feet nimble for football,” Dollens said last week. “They're good for explosiveness and quickness.”

Dollens said he's also been faithfully hitting the weight room.

“I do a lot of power clean,” he said. “I do a lot of fast-twitch weight...and use a machine at school called the jammer. It's basically a machine you stand in and use your hops, legs and arms to push out.”

The shot put has been his best event and he's shown more consistency this year by throwing more in the 50-foot-range.

He had a streak earlier this season where he won the gold medal in the shot put in three-straight meets - at Tahlequah, Claremore and Independence (Kan.).

Even though he had a disappointing 47-plus throw at last week's Frontier Conference meet, Dollens feels he's on track to qualify for state.

“I've had a lot of strength gains,” he explained. “In practice, I've hit further than I have in competition.”

When he's not practicing his throwing or pumping iron, Dollens can be found on the tennis courts with the Bartlesville squad.

“This is the first time I've been on the team,” he said. “I find tennis a lot more enjoyable than running dead-on sprints. I just do it for fun and to work on my hand-eye coordination.”

For now, Dollens goal is to finish high at state in the shot put, capping his prep athletic career.

And, then it's on to some football.

http://www.examiner-enterprise.com/arti ... s/4792.txt

[PonyPride]

Nice story!
Thanks, MM65!

[LonghornFan68]

Cool, good luck to him.