TENNESSEE – Evansville shotput athlete Joseph Maxwell is the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCCA) South East Conference indoor champion.
“I was ecstatic to get it done,” stated Mr. Maxwell, a member of the University of Tennessee Volunteers track and field team, in an interview with the Recorder two days after he won gold for finishing in first place at the SEC Indoor Shot put championship held last Friday in Texas.
Collecting his first SEC medal and his first conference title, Mr. Maxwell took first place in the men’s shotput with a toss of 19.83 (65-0.75). He is the first SEC men’s indoor shotput champion for the Volunteers since 2009 and only the second in the past 33 years.
“It was a good weekend,” said Mr. Maxwell, who just two weeks previously had broke his own school record with his lifetime best throw of 19.89 metres (65-3.25) in the men’s shotput at the Tiger Paw Invitational held at Clemson University in South Carolina.
He noted, “I hurt my back after the second meet of the season and my coach and I decided that I should sit out a meet. But things didn’t turn out too bad. It allowed me more time to rest and for training. I was fortunate to be healthy for the SEC champions meet.”
“The SEC is really the best conference for track and football in the US,” said Mr. Maxwell, “and the SEC championship is a world-class track and field meet.”
“I am thankful to my coach for all his help, and for helping me be healthy when I needed to be,” said Mr. Maxwell. He noted, “In the SEC meet II was six centimetres off my personal best record that I set two weeks ago. Going into the meet I said I would like to throw 20 metres, which is still my goal, but winning was the big thing, (even) over throwing a personal best.”
