Mai expects big week on, off track

JBLM major, one of top-ranked hammer throwers in U.S., will vie for national title, enjoy reunion at home

Bob Reinert/Northwest Guardian

Mike Mai knows how to deal with pressure. Good thing.

Not only will Mai take part in next week’s 2010 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, he will do so in front of family members who have never seen him compete, while his parents meet his prospective in-laws for the first time. Oh, and his fiancee will simultaneously be shooting for a national title in the women’s high jump.

How’s that for a full week?

“It’ll be a big event for a lot of reasons,” said Mai, a major and commander of the 9th Financial Management Company at Joint Base Lewis-McChord. “It’ll be kind of a big family reunion, which will be exciting. It’ll be fun.”

When he steps onto the field surface for the hammer throw at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, Mai will be just hours away from his native Le Mars in the same state. With a season-best throw of 73 meters, 11 centimeters, two weeks ago in Portland, Ore., in wet conditions, Mai moved up in the national rankings.

“It’s definitely looking good, especially in those conditions,” Mai said. “I think that puts me fourth or fifth right now in the U.S.”

When he’s not in the throwing circle, Mai will closely watch Deirdre Mullen of Nike, the second-ranked women’s high jumper in the nation and his future wife.

“She’s having a great spring, too,” Mai said. “She’s jumped a personal best this spring.”

Work commitments and adverse weather recently have kept Mai from his usual training regimen. “My Bravo Detachment is deploying. So getting those guys ready and ensuring they’re ready to go to Iraq was my primary focus through April and May,” Mai said. “Work has definitely kept me busy.

“I love the job I’m doing here, and the mission has to come first.”

Mai has also been making the sometimes difficult transition from the indoor weight throw to the hammer throw.

“It’s a different feel, a different rhythm and everything,” Mai said. “I’ve just started to get (there) in the past couple of weeks, which is good — just in time.”

Mai will throw in the men’s hammer final at 5 p.m. June 25.

“I really feel like I can get right up there where my (personal record) is, which is 250 feet,” Mai said. “I don’t ever set any kind of distance goals, necessarily, for the meets.”

At age 32, Mai just tries to savor each and every chance to throw competitively at such a high level.

“Whenever you go into meets like this, you never know what’s going to happen with injuries or anything else,” Mai said. “So I always want to take every competition like it’s my last one. Don’t leave anything on the field. (I) go in and give it my best, and let what happens happen.”