Penn Hills graduate refines shot put training, breaks records at Seton Hill

By: Josh Rizzo
Sunday, January 21, 2024 | 11:01 AM

Seton Hill sophomore Angelo Allen went into offseason training with a refined focus.

The Penn Hills graduate didn’t want to do things half-cocked. Allen wanted to be deliberate and cerebral with his approach.

Allen’s dedication to focusing on technique and seeking advice from more experienced throwers produced big results. Allen broke his own school record for the Griffins in the shot put with a throw of 16.16 meters at the Mountain Hawk Opener at Lehigh University.

“Ultimately, this year in the shot put and weight (throw), I went into training with a little more intention,” Allen said. “I really focused on improving what I thought were my weaknesses.”

Allen, who recently placed fourth in the weight throw with a distance of 14.57 meters at the Muskingum Meet, has been tackling challenges left and right since he went to Seton Hill. Allen was home-schooled growing up but has adjusted well to living on campus.

“I thought the transition between high school and college growing up would be tough, but it’s not much different,” Allen said. “I think the biggest difference is you have to be responsible and have time-management skills. Once you have a chance to meet people and make friends, everything feels like it should.”

Allen wanted his command of throwing the shot put to feel how it should during his freshman season.

He wasn’t always happy with how he was throwing. The shot put was Allen’s best event at Penn Hills. Allen qualified for the PIAA Class 2A track and field championships in his junior and senior year in the shot put.

He also qualified in the discus as a senior. Allen earned all-state honors in the shot put as a senior by placing fourth with a throw of 54 feet, 3 inches.

So, he worked on building up the information available to him. Allen built confidence with his performance at the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference championships last winter. He finished fifth in the shot put.

“I got fed up with how I was performing,” Allen said. “I only PR’d in my first meet last year. Leading up to the PSAC Championships, I trained harder than I did before. It showed in my performance.”

Allen has been working on being a strong competitor in the weight throw as well. He has had to improvise over the past few weeks, as Seton Hill’s weight was broken and he hasn’t had one available to practice with.

“When it was time to throw this past weekend (at Muskingum), I was showing up as a blank slate,” Allen said. “We did some turns without the weight. We improvise in practice and without being able to throw, we were doing technical work.”

Allen hopes to find a way back to the PSAC Championships in the shot put and would like an opportunity to get there in the weight throw as well.

“It’s pretty stacked for the PSAC this year,” Allen said. “There are a lot of good athletes this year. I’m hoping to compete with all the strong athletes from Slippery Rock and Shippensburg and try to break my school record again.”

Tags: Penn Hills