What is Good?

I’m not really sure how to answer this question.  Since our outdoor season began a few weeks ago, some of my athletes have asked me what is a good hammer, javelin, shot-put, and discus mark for the outdoor season.  My initial thought is it depends on the event and that it tends to move year to year.
 
I started writing this article a week ago, and I still cannot come up with a reasonable response that I think is sufficient for the audience.  If you look at just Empire 8 marks over the course of the past seven years, men’s distances have gone up exponentially.  For example, Luis and Brandon scored in the men’s weight in the 2013 Empire 8 Indoor Championships with throws under 40’. Luis broke the meet record in 2016 with a throw of 18.83m (61’).  If a male thrower hits 50’ in either the shot or the weight at the conference championship, there is a very good chance they will win the meet.  
 
It begs the question, is the mark more important or is it more important to win?
 
On the women’s side, last year at our Outdoor Empire 8 Conference Championships, only one female thrower threw the hammer over 40m (131’).  The conference champion ended up earning an All-American award in the hammer at DIII Nationals.  
 
I think good comes down to what the consensus of individuals agree on. The exact mark may change from year to year, but the top 20 athletes are selected to compete at Indoor Nationals and the top 25 are selected for Outdoor Nationals.  From my coaching perspective, I believe good marks are going to vary from individual to individual.  I currently am coaching five freshmen throwers.  They each have a different perspective on what they think is good. That is what makes it difficult to suggest a hardline on a distance.  
 
The Empire 8 Conference takes the top 16 individual athletes per event group to compete at the indoor and outdoor championship meet.  The minimum distance to throw to qualify for the meet varies from year to year.  If a thrower qualifies for either the Indoor or Outdoor Championships, I believe that to be a good throw.  
 
What do you think is a good throw?
 
As always, thanks for reading ~ Charles