Uncle helps Batavia track’s Theuerkauf take best shot

Batavia senior Haleigh Theuerkauf rummaged through her uncle Mike’s garage with the rest of her cousins as a child.

As the adults tossed horseshoes, the kids discovered shot-put balls, discuses and javelins strewn about the storage space of a former Atlantic Coast Conference champion.

No sooner than asking, “What’s that, uncle Mike?” Haleigh Theuerkauf grabbed a shot and found an open patch of New Jersey grass. She’ll let fly with greater strength and technique at this weekend’s Class 3A state girls track and field meet in Charleston, but her early days throwing with her uncle won’t be buried in her mind.

“I thought I was going to be all right at throwing, just get a little help from him,” Haleigh Theurkauf said. “But it’s worked out in my favor.”

Theuerkauf equally credits Batavia throws coach Bill Kettering for cultivating her development, which started with a state shot-put berth as a sophomore and built to a scholarship offer from Iowa in the late winter.

While Mike Theurkauf is busy with athletes of his own as the longtime boys track coach at his alma mater, Northern Valley Demarest (N.J.) High, he never is more than a phone call or email away. Scott Theuerkauf, Haleigh’s dad and the oldest of the family’s three brothers, occasionally sends YouTube clips of Haleigh’s throws to Mike, a standout at Virginia in the late 1980s and early ’90s.

Whether in person or on tape, Mike Theuerkauf sees exemplary explosiveness in his niece, who is brawny enough but “still could use some more bulk” at Iowa in her uncle’s estimation.

“If she embraces being a thrower and giving her all for four years, she has a much higher top end if she wants to go after it,” Mike Theuerkauf said. “Part of that is realizing that you can’t be a size zero dress and hit the weights, too.”

If not a little lighter, Haleigh Theuerkauf felt slightly off-kilter during her junior season, which included a berth in the state shot put prelims but no trip to the Saturday finals, unlike her sophomore year.

Doctors later diagnosed her with mononucleosis, leaving Theuerkauf to wonder whether she had been afflicted all spring.

“At the beginning of the season I started off pretty strong, but then I kept decreasing and I knew something wasn’t right because I wasn’t changing anything,” Theuerkauf said. “So that’s when I kind of knew something was a little off.”

Bulldogs coach Justin Allison has seen nothing uneven during Theuerkauf’s senior season, lauding her “fantastic work ethic” and “constant desire to compete.”

Theuerkauf won the Bartlett Sectional discus title with a throw of 116 feet, 7 inches and eclipsed the shot put qualifying standard by one half-inch with a heave of 37-61⁄2. Both were below her personal records, which further fueled her motivation in her first year advancing in both throwing events.

“I need to fix my form, but I feel like I can throw a lot further,” Theuerkauf said.

Her uncle agrees, and also has a hunch about Theurkauf’s younger sister. Madison Theuerkauf, a Batavia freshman, has thrown her share of things in New Jersey, too.

“The yard wasn’t a boot camp for throwing or anything,” Mike Theuerkauf said. “It was just a place to have some fun.”

IHSA girls state track and field meets
At O'Brien Stadium, Charleston
All finals begin at 10 a.m. Saturday

Preliminaries
1A: 10 a.m. today
2A: 8 a.m. Friday
3A: 10:45 a.m. Friday (field), 12:50 p.m. Friday (track)

AREA QUALIFIERS
CLASS 3A
St. Charles East
Laney Deckrow, high jump
4x100-meter relay
Mallory Abel, 3,200
Kelsey Gentry, 100
Torree Scull, 800
Kristin Sheehan, 800
Jordan Shead, 400
Britney Williams, 800
Annie Martines, 300 hurdles
4x400

St. Charles North
Kaylee Raucci, triple jump
4x800
Sydney Stuenkel, 1,600

Batavia
Skylar Schoen, pole vault
Haleigh Theuerkauf, shot put; discus

Geneva
Kailie Briza, long jump
Hannah Davison, triple jump

Rosary
4x200

CLASS 2A
Kaneland
4x800
Jenn Howland, 3,200
Sydney Strang, 800
Lauren Zick, 400
4x400

Burlington Central
Autumn Conn, pole vault
Brenda Thasavong, high jump
Kayla Wolf, 800
Alexa Tovsen, 300 hurdles

St. Francis
Jenna DiValerio, 3,200
Amanda Nunley, 800

Aurora Christian
Taylor Knauf, pole vault
Peyton Wade, high jump
Alyssa Andersen, shot put
Mackenzie Bollinger, triple jump; 100; 200
Alyssa Henzel, discus
4x100
Becca Wert, 800; 1,600
Sarina Oleson, 800; 1,600
4x200
4x400

Aurora Central Catholic
Lisa Rodriguez, 100; 200; 400
Jenna Koerner, 800