Johvonne Hernandez must love adversity.

Things haven’t quite gone according to plan for the junior thrower on the Syracuse track and field team since she arrived at SU three years ago. Former SU assistant Candace Roberts recruited Hernandez, but Roberts left SU before Hernandez even got to school. A difficult freshman year with former coach Allen Bradd produced All-Big East honors but nothing spectacular from the former high school All-American.

Usually, college freshmen who equal their high school bests are said to have made a good transition into NCAA athletics, but despite second and third-place finishes in the shot put and weight throw at last year’s Big East Outdoor Championships, the first-year sensation wasn’t satisfied.

This year, finally, she is. Hernandez has already qualified for the Big East Championships, the ECAC Championship and the NCAA Provisional meet. She’s overcome the coaching changes and adapted to her new one, Cheree Hicks.

Hernandez attributes her success to Hicks, a former six-time All-American, a two-year member of the Orangewomen and Hernandez’s new coach.

‘When she came into play, my distances improved,’ Hernandez said. ‘I won Big East Champs, and there were a lot of positives.’

Those improvements came because of an extremely tough training program, developed in Hicks’ one-year coaching stint at Portland State, that tends to initially overwhelm athletes physically, aiming for long-term results.

‘I was not expecting much because it was her first year in the program,’ Hicks said, ‘but she surprised me and adjusted very fast.’

So instead of another year of unfulfilled expectations, Hernandez established herself as the measuring stick in the Big East conference her sophomore year and scratched the surface of national recognition with her performance in the NCAA Championships.

‘Looking at the country,’ Hernandez said, ‘there’s just a lot of girls throwing better at this point compared to the Big East.’

This season could be a national coming-out party for her if training continues to go as planned.

‘I think she could be one of the nation’s best,’ Hicks said. ‘But it’s not what I think, it’s what Johvonne thinks.’

But Hicks thinks Hernandez can shot-put 54 feet and fire it 64 feet for the weight throw this season. Those are both substantial improvements from last year’s conference title bests of 52 feet 10 inches and 63 feet 4.25 inches.

Hicks’ tough workouts appear to be doing the trick.

‘The program is split up into a base period for strength until November,’ Hicks said. ‘When competition starts, we do a lot of technique work. It’s not as rigorous.’

Simply the mention of autumn practices changes Hernandez’s demeanor. The throwers run hills twice a week, lift weights and do cardio work five times a week. They don’t pick up a shot put or discus until November – that is except for powerball.

‘Powerball,’ Hernandez said, ‘is hell. I’m scared for next year.’

The workout consists of five balls lined up about 10 yards from the bleachers at Manley Field House, starting at 5 pounds and finishing at 25 pounds. The throwers run to each ball, starting with the 5-pounder, and tosses it the full 10 yards until it hits the bleachers. They don’t move onto the next ball until then.

‘Coach Hicks times it perfectly, so that by the time you hit the 25-pound ball, you’re dead,’ Hernandez said.

Racing against a stop watch hardly makes matters easier, especially when your coach was the NCAA runner-up in both the shot put and discus only four years ago. Tough workouts got Hicks those accolades, not to mention a fifth-place performance at the 2000 Sydney Olympic trials.

So while Hernandez gratefully works on the technique of throwing inside Manley, she hopes to give Hicks her first All-America athlete.

‘I want to repeat as Big East Champion and become an All-American,’ Hernandez said.

Hernandez has not competed in the past two meets, but as the Carrier Dome prepares for the conference championship, Hernandez will be ready despite the layoff. She’s used to adversity.

Published on February 9, 2004 at 12:00 pm