April 7, 2011

By Art Garcia for UTAMavs.com

ARLINGTON, Tex. - Some people do things spur of the moment. Then there's Casey Keeter.

Literally out of the blue and unannounced, Keeter showed up at the front door of UT Arlington's track program in August holding his bags and looking for a place to sleep. Well, maybe it wasn't that extreme, but it was pretty darn close.

Keeter decided to transfer UTA to for his senior season from Tarleton State without bothering to tell Mavericks coach John Sauerhage. Keeter was looking for a new school after learning that his throwing coach at Tarleton was leaving and a friend who works for the Texas Rangers suggested moving to Arlington.

That idea sounded good.

"I packed up my stuff and moved out in three days," Keeter said. "I moved out here and got to the school before I even talked to the coach. It was just taking a big chance."

You think? The fact he's also engaged would seem to complicate matters, but the future Mrs. Keeter went all in. She quit her job and followed Keeter on his new adventure. Now, there was this small matter of making the team.

Sauerhage didn't make Keeter any promises. How could he? But he opened the door and told his unexpected transfer that an opportunity was there to be a Maverick if Keeter proved himself. That's all the motivation the outgoing 22-year-old hopeful needed.

"That's where I started working hard," Keeter said. "In D-I, I wanted to succeed like I did in D-II and just be the best I can be in everything. The city's a little much, but I think it was a good move, a good risk."

Keeter had an idea his talent would do all the "proving himself" necessary. A national qualifier at Tarleton State, he was also an all-state performer in high school at Olney. But few could have forecasted the improvement he's made in his first season at the Division I level.

Before coming to UTA, Keeter's personal best in the shot put was 55'6" at Tarleton. He's already thrown 59'4" (10th in the NCAA) and won the Bobby Lane Invitational in the shot put. He believes a 60-foot throw is doable before the outdoor season is done. Keeter also placed third in discuss at UTA's home event.

"I wanted to see how I could perform against D-I people," he said. "I knew I would be able to perform well, but I didn't know I would be able to shoot out this much. I don't know what it is. I train a lot - the same way I did when I was at Tarleton.

"I know I started to review more film a lot more since I've been here. I don't know what it is, it's just happening. It would have been nice if three years ago it would have started happening."

Keeter bought a camera after moving to Arlington to break down his technique more efficiently. He began to notice not only the facets where he could improve, but where his teammates could get better.

"I wanted to see what works and what doesn't," Keeter said. "When I started doing that, I started noticing things I'd never seen in the past. They were things my coach at Tarleton had hit on, but we had never structurally worked on. Everything else that I had learned is the way I'm still working now - brute-force training with tires, sledgehammers, sand-pit work, stuff you really need for this. The only thing I've changed is really film."

Keeter has become a student of the game, studying how many of the best throwers across the country and, in a way, becoming an unofficial coach for the Mavericks.

"I look at glide and rotation and how it differs, and I try to help everybody," he said. "I have tried to already start coaching. I guess doing all the studying, in the end, is already helping me."

Since this is Keeter's last year competing in the outdoor season at college, he's begun to think about the future. Coaching is in the plans, though not at the high school level.

"I want to get guys out of high school who are OK throwers and flip them around to be a great thrower," he said. "One of my goals is to coach an Olympian some day. I think I have the skills. I know the training that it takes - the weight-training and then the training out on the field - to get there. All I need is a kid that will have the heart. That's what I want."

Last week at the Bobby Lane Invitational, Keeter was quite the spectacle. The senior, sporting a fisherman's bucket hat and sandals to go along with his sleeveless UTA T-shirt, came out to support teammates in the javelin and the pole vault.

He also sat around for the first flight of the discus competition despite partaking in the second heat. Instead of isolating himself in preparation for the competition, Keeter spent his time mentoring Romain Martin in the event - discus is Martin's weakest decathlon event. By the end, Martin turned in a personal-best throw.

Competitors from other teams even approached talkative Keeter to get a tip or two during meet and he obliged without hesitation.

Then Keeter went out and finished third in the competition despite a few disappointing fouls toward the end of the event.

Sauerhage certainly welcomes the help Keeter has provided and would have taken three more years of Keeter if possible. The better-late-than-never senior joins a pair of throwers from Serbia - Branko Petrovic (shot put and discus) and Ivan Storic (javelin) - to provide a nice complement to UTA's solid running program and improve its chances to win an overall Southland Conference championship.

"Having dependable points in the throws is something we haven't had in a long time," Sauerhage said. "It's helping our chances in competing for the conference title in outdoor track."

And he also wants to get plenty of use out of his guitar. Yes, this rock of a man is a musician, playing everything from Texas country to alternative rock. His second CD is in the works, with one of George Strait's steel guitarists in the fold.

"It's going to be a really good CD," said the 240-pound front man, "and it's going to have a band in the background."

Maybe his next move is showing up at the front door of some record label. Who knows, they might let Casey Keeter in.