Elmwood High School’s Anna Barber, a state placer in the discus as an underclassmen, regional qualifier in both events multiple years running, and state indoor champion in the weight throw, has already signed to be an NCAA Division I thrower at the University of Rutgers. (supplied photo)
BLOOMDALE — Elmwood senior Anna Barber did not qualify for state in throwing events this year, but she has a promising future.
Barber, a state placer in the discus as an underclassmen, regional qualifier in both events multiple years running, and state indoor champion in the weight throw, has already signed to be an NCAA Division I thrower at the University of Rutgers.
Barber took a chance and reached out to several major colleges hoping to get a bite.
“At the beginning of when I tried to figure out what I wanted to do for college, I emailed a ton of coaches, (including) Big Ten coaches, high-level schools that I never thought I’d have a chance of getting into, but I figured, ‘Why not try?’” Barber said.
“Of out of all those schools, Rutgers was the one that was the most, “Hey, we really like what you are doing. We want you to come down for a visit.’
“So, in the fall of my junior year I went down for my first visit, and I really loved it there, I loved the coach, the whole university and everything, but I still was in my mind, ‘Am I really good enough to be at such a big school?’
“But it was always my top favorite, my top pick. After going through the process, I ended up signing.”
Barber knows what she will be up against competing in the Big Ten Conference.
“It’s really going to be a challenge,” Barber said. “I’d say a goal would be to make it to the Big Ten championships by my sophomore year.
“As a freshman, not many people do, unless you’re really good. But I think I’m going to be able to hold my own.”
Elmwood first-year throws coach Kevin Mermin thinks Rutgers is fortunate to get Barber.
“I think they are going to get a really good thrower with a lot of potential, especially in the discus, and I think she does well in the hammer and weight throw, so I’m pretty excited to see what she is going to do at Rutgers,” Mermin said.
“To have more hands-on training and more specialized training in those areas, will affect her greatly. She has a great work ethic. Anything I put in front of her she’s always questioning in a good way.
“She’s always asking what can do more of, what can I do better? We have a good working relationship.
“She comes to me with a lot of questions, even though she does have a private coach, she has the benefit of having two coaches, which is really nice for her. She comes to work every day. I can’t complain.”
At Elmwood, Barber was looking to win her third straight Northern Buckeye Conference discus championship this spring, but she finished second with a throw of 119 feet, two inches. She placed second in the discus (115-4) and third in the shot put (33-5¾) at this year’s Division III district meet.
She is the 2022 shot put runner-up, placed fourth at the 2023 NBC meet (33-6¾), is a regional qualifier in both events, and placed sixth in the discus at the state meet last year.
At Fostoria last week in the Division III regional meet, she was unable to qualify for state in either event.
In the discus, even though the top throws were well within her range, she fouled on all three discus throws, and just like that a senior dream went down the drain. In the shot put, she finished 10th with a throw of 33-10½ in the finals.
A standout basketball player through her junior year, she did not play last winter to focus on indoor track, setting some high goals for herself.
“At the beginning of the indoor track season, I had the goal of wanting to be a tri-state champion (including hammer and discus),” Barber said.
“I did win the weight throw this previous indoor season, so one down. Then I have the goal of winning the discus and winning the hammer throw as well,” Barber continued.
The discus is not going to happen becuase of the bad luck she had at regionals, but she still has a chance of winning the hammer throw, which is not an official OHSAA event so it’s held outside the state track meet as a separate event.
“I’d say, right now in hammer, I haven’t checked, but I’ve done well, and I believe that I’m probably ranked No. 1 right now in hammer (in Ohio). Discus is still a work in progress. It is the hardest one to achieve but I’ve got a few more weeks to keep training up really good and hopefully I can meet those goals.”
Besides her coaches at Rossford, Barber has been under the tutelage of Justin Carvalho of the Northwest Ohio Throws Academy in Mount Blanchard, Ohio ever since seventh grade. The shot put and discus state championships are sanctioned by the OHSAA, but the hammer and weight throw are sanctioned separately by the state track coaches’ association.
They are vital to learn because they are sanctioned by the NCAA, but they are worlds away in technique.
“I guess shot and disc, you can kind of compare them as siblings. Hammer throw would be kind of your crazy uncle,” Barber said.
“It’s a completely different motion, it’s a completely different way of throwing, almost in the way that the javelin throw would be different than the discus throw. The shot and discus are generally the same motion, you just kind of have different ways of throwing it. The hammer is essentially its own thing.”
Mermin, who threw at Rossford High School and coached football and track at Lake for five years before coming to Elmwood, threw collegiately at Heidelberg University, so he knows the hammer.
“Hammer is fun, though. I’ve always loved hammer,” Mermin said. “It’s controlled chaos, that is what I always called it.”
When Barber arrives in New Brunswick, New Jersey, for classes at Rutgers, she plans to major in psychology.
