Conwell Dreaming Big -- Conqueror Has Track, Football Both In Mind

-- KENT

Visions of footballs dance in his head. Sometimes, while throwing the shot put, discus or javelin, Ernie Conwell imagines himself catching passes for the Washington Huskies next fall.

He admits it's difficult to concentrate on the task at hand - trying to become the first athlete in Washington high-school history to win all three weight events at the state track and field meet.

"More and more, my mind gets full with football," said Conwell, a Kentwood senior recruited by the Huskies as a tight end largely based on his raw athleticism.

Conwell has been told to prepare to battle for playing time at tight end as a Husky freshman.

Ralph Galloway, who coaches the Kentwood discus throwers, has caught Conwell in the clouds.

"I think he's thinking Huskies," Galloway said. "I think he's looking ahead a little. He loses concentration. The other day, I said to him, `Are you having fun, wherever you are?' He looked at me and laughed and said, `You're right. I'm not here.' I think it's natural for a kid to do that. He's got his scholarship in hand and he's had a chance to rub shoulders with some of the people he'll be teammates with next year.

"He's got as much of a chance of starting (as a UW freshman) as anybody else. He's thinking football, and the Huskies would love to know that. But we're hoping he'll hang in here and think a little bit about track for a few more weeks."

The mind wanders, but the body still performs. Conwell has the state's best shot put mark this season at 57-1. He's thrown the discus 160-10 and the javelin 195-1. His biggest obstacle in the discus is Kentwood teammate Brent Roberts, who has a state-leading toss of 164-6. Ben Hayes (Davis of Yakima) leads the javelin at 204-7.

Conwell, 6 feet 2 and 225 pounds, is a big reason Kentwood is expected to challenge Clover Park for the state Class AAA track and field title next month. He scored 20 of the Conquerors' 33 points last season, when they placed third, as he won the shot, took second in the discus and finished fifth in the javelin.

The javelin might be Conwell's best event, one he hopes to pursue at Washington. Since the South Puget Sound League does not allow javelin competition, Conwell gets little practice at it until the district and state meets.

"If he threw the javelin every week, I'm sure he'd lead the state in it," Kentwood Coach Rick Comer said. "Javelin throwers tend to be like pole vaulters - it's usually all they do. That's what makes Ernie so unusual, because he can do all three. . . . If he wins those three events at state, it would be quite a feat."

Galloway likes Conwell's chances of tripling, if he sets his mind to it.

"As far as physical potential, he's more than capable of winning all three," he said.

But Comer, Galloway and Conwell each point out that Roberts will have something to say about that. Conwell and Roberts talk about going 1-2 in the discus, but aren't specific about who's one and who's two.

Mention the state meet and Conwell's first comments are about Kentwood's chances of its first team title.

"If we can get to the point where we've tuned everything up, we're going to be a contender," he said.

Conwell hedges about his personal goals.

"It's hard to say," he said. "I plan to win the shot, but I think the javelin and discus championships are up for grabs."

As for becoming the first to triple in the three throwing events, Conwell said, "That would be exciting. But I'm not going to worry about it. There's not a lot of pressure on me to do that. If I can contribute to our team's victory, that's all that really matters."

The distraction of football, which Conwell has played sparingly the past two seasons due to a foot injury, actually has been a welcome relief, especially with a scholarship in hand.

"It's nice," he said. "I can just kind of relax. Track is funnest your senior year. You go out to have fun, as well as do your best."

But he expects to be focused on track by the time the district and state meets roll around.

"I have some experience now," he said. "I've been at state three times, or I will be. I feel comfortable there. I don't have a tendency to choke in big meets like I did when I was younger."

Conwell comes by his track and field talent naturally. His sister, Pauline Conwell Thomas, placed fourth in the shot put in the 1968 Olympic Trials, just missing an Olympic berth. Thomas, now 42 with four children of her own, began coaching her multi-talented brother when he was in seventh grade.

"He'd always been good at whatever sport he played," she said. "When he decided he wanted to try track in seventh grade instead of play baseball, I said, `OK, if he wants to do it, I'm going to make sure he's got somebody tell him how to do it.' "

Conwell became a decathlete, placing fourth in the national Junior Olympics the summer before his sophomore year. But his focus changed to football following a successful junior season.

"My coaches were kind of telling me that maybe I ought to pay a little more attention toward football, that maybe if I worked harder, I could get a scholarship," Conwell said. "So I said, `I'll work hard at both (football and track) and whatever happens, happens.' "