Practice Provides Promise for Dawson, Morris

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Contrary to bumper-sticker philosophy, practice does not make perfect. It will lead to possible.

Last Thursday was one of those days for both Adam Dawson and Jackson Morris, a pair of throwers who are looking to return to form. That session, which Colorado State head coach Brian Bedard spoke about almost in magical terms, led to a strong Saturday showing at the Doug Max Invitational, when Dawson won the discus at 182 feet, with Morris in second at 178-03.

"I probably had one of the more enjoyable practices as I've had watching those two in the discus exchange big throws and kind of feed each other and challenge each other," Bedard said. "From a coaching standpoint, that was a lot of fun to watch. It shows me when those two are healthy, the old roommates, when they get going, are pretty formidable.

"I think they challenge each other in a really healthy way, and often times they encourage each other and give each other technique tips. They want the best for the other person. That's a great dynamic to have."

What each is striving to do is get back to form. In 2019, Morris was the high-point scorer at the Mountain West meet placing third in a trio of throws. One of them, the discus, was won by Dawson. As the Rams' men go after an outdoor championship in May, those types of performances would be rather valuable.

Since then, they've dealt with the loss of a season to a pandemic along with everybody else, and they've also had to deal with a series of injuries which have stalled training and performance for time frames longer than they'd prefer.

"It has, and it's been a little frustrating, if I'm being honest," Dawson said. "Just trying to fight through some injuries and get healthy. Being healthy is half the battle, but I'm pretty excited about this year and how it's going so far. The practices have all been going really well. I'm just trying to get the competitive mindset."

For both of them, Thursday's workout provided the best jolt yet. The weather was perfect, and both were feeling good, opening the door for what transpired.

Which was a series of discus throws for both of them surpassing themselves and each other. It felt natural and pure, as if everything was starting to click once again. While Saturday's throws were good, they didn't reach what happened on Thursday, so the next step is finding the bridge.

"Both of us were throwing really well, just one after another," Morris said. "Really consistent and really easy, too – we weren't really throwing that hard. When we get into a meet, I think it's a problem for everybody. Meets are far and few in between and we get in the mindset of we have to throw far, so we get tight, and we get in our head, and we don't quite hit the distance we do in practice. We have to find a way to get that practice mojo in a meet. We usually do that at conference, we kind of get there."

Morris is still avoiding the javelin for now, an event he said normally leads him to injury, but also an event where he holds the school record at 225-4. Dawson ranks ninth in the discus at the school, and while his throws Saturday were in the neighborhood of his 187-7 personal record, his throws Thursday were even closer.

What he's focusing on is the positives he sees, and he and Morris help each other do just that. Nobody understands a teammate coming back from injury like one who has – or is – doing it themselves.

"Considering everything, I feel really good. There's still a long season; we're about halfway done," Dawson said. "I try to keep the whole negativity stuff with injuries and Covid out of it, trying to improve myself. I try to keep the negativity out of it as best I can. It's just a long process. It's always improving, always building.

"I think it was a good year for me. It was a while ago, but being able to build and think about it, the success I've had … Conference is really important to me, but I've also improved on a national and regional level."

They focused on the discus at this past home meet, and this week at the Jack Christiansen Invite on Friday and Saturday, Morris may venture back into the javelin – that's still to be determined. He's not going to rush it, considering his history, because he wants to know he feels great, just not good.

Seeing them round back into form is encouraging for Bedard, too, who knows they can be vital point scorers at conference. Between them, they have six conference outdoor placings.

"I think they're huge. When Jackson was at his best, he was the high-point performer, scored a lot of points for us," Bedard said. "Adam, when he's at his best is a conference champion discus thrower and can score in the hammer and can be an NCAA qualifier."

Whatever didn't translate from Thursday to Saturday this week, they'd both like to fix for this week. But when it comes to the conference meet, Morris said it's an entirely different beast. Not just for them, but for the Rams as a whole.

He feels the entire team is great at putting aside any pressure so they can perform at their best.

"Once we get into conference, our whole team kind of clicks into gear and naturally we all kind of do our thing," he said. "That's a cool thing about our team is we all kind of click in. Maybe one guy has a bad day, but they come back and support everybody else. I don't feel pressure to be ready for conference, but we want to be at our best point going into conference."

Which takes them back to practice. It may not make them perfect, but a great day like they had on Thursday can make all the difference for them mentally as much as physically moving forward. Right now, a whole lot more feels possible for them both.

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