The tall and short of it; Freeman, Denhoff using the hammer to their advantage

John Freeman is a thoroughbred hammer thrower. Although he's just 16 years old, the East Greenwich resident and Bishop Hendricken High School junior stands at 6 feet, 3 inches, and has the bulky build necessary to hurl a 12-pound steel ball attached to a 42-inch wire more than 200 feet.

Erica Denhoff is a pony in the world of hammer throwing. Her track and field friends call her half-pint. At just 5 feet, 1 inch, the North Kingstown High School senior is terribly undersized compared to her competition, and she's also behind in experience, not having taken the event seriously until the end of her junior season.

Freeman happens to be the younger brother of Jacob and Michael Freeman, both former national high school champions and current Manhattan College throwers. Jacob, who holds the high school national record, won the hammer throw at the NCAA National Championship on Saturday, while Michael finished eighth in the NCAA East Regional as a sophomore.

John wasn't forced to follow his brothers' footsteps; he naturally chose to tag along. After winning the weight throw at the indoor state meet this year, he placed third in the hammer throw outdoors. His best throw this season (201 feet, 4 inches) ranks fourth in the country in a Rhode Island-dominated field as he prepares for Adidas Outdoor Championships in Raleigh, N.C., this weekend.

Denhoff's choice to pick up a hammer wasn't as obvious, and she isn't quite as accomplished a thrower as Freeman is. Her personal-best throw of 118 feet, 10 inches, in the hammer set a school record by more than 3 feet but wasn't good enough to qualify her for the state meet. She did, though, receive the same collegiate call many Rhode Island throwers are turning their ears to. The University of Pennsylvania wooed her at a summer throwing camp in Philadelphia.

Despite the disparity between Freeman and Denhoff, they've still ended up in the same boat, one that's transported local high school throwers with various accolades to the college level along with a bounty of scholarship money.

Freeman and Denhoff are lucky to live in Rhode Island, which is as advantageous to hammer throwers as it is to sailors. While the state offers a geographical edge for water sport athletes, it's the simple privilege of competition that hammer throwers benefit from. Rhode Island is the only state to compete the event throughout the high school season. Connecticut is the only other state to hold the event in its state meet. Because of this, hundreds of Division I college track and field programs eye a top 50 list every year that's half full of Rhode Islanders.

The event was at one time competed in all states, but it was eventually dropped in the 1930s and 1940s everywhere else because of insurance purposes and the fact it's a complex sport to teach. Knowledge in the coaching ranks kept it alive in Rhode Island. Former Classical High School coach Al Morro was a major proponent of the event, as was the University of Rhode Island's Fred Tootell.

Rhode Island boasts several quality hammer coaches, including Narragansett resident Kevin Barrett, who has coached around the state and now volunteers his time privately with a dedicated group, including Freeman and Denhoff. In the recent past, Barrett coached 2001 NKHS graduate Ian Brewer, who became Georgia Tech's record holder in the hammer, and 2003 East Greenwich High School graduate Nicole Sauer, who now throws for Tulane University.

In fact, it was blind luck that Denhoff came across Barrett through talking with Sauer at a meet. Denhoff became aggravated with her progression by the time she was a junior, so she went to fellow Southern Division competitor Sauer for advice. Sauer introduced Denhoff to Barrett and after working with him for two months, Denhoff improved more than 30 feet.

"If it wasn't for this whole throwing group and Kevin, I probably wouldn't be throwing anymore. I probably would've quit out of frustration," Denhoff said. "If I hadn't met Kevin, I wouldn't be throwing in college. I might not have even gotten into Penn."

Freeman's college offers will undoubtedly be rolling in through the fall. That is a direct result of his surroundings the last several years. Although he wasn't forced to throw the hammer, Freeman was certainly immersed in the event growing up. His family has its own throwing circle in the back yard. Of course John watched as his brothers achieved their success at each stage.

"I've always been watching them throw. It's a huge advantage to know what to do," Freeman said. "[The hammer] does take over a lot of the time. A lot of times hammer does come up at the dinner table."

Since Denhoff didn't have a similar background, she had to depend on other assets to get her to this point. Her smarts surely factored into her acceptance at Penn, which, as an Ivy League school, doesn't give athletic scholarships. Her knowledge in the event, though, was enough to persuade Penn throwing coach Tony Tenisci to recruit her and help her obtain the grant money she was awarded with her financial aid package.

"What Penn is basically getting is a kid that knows how to throw, do the drills. They'll get her more fit. But she's probably got a year advantage [on inexperienced throwers]," Barrett said. "In one sense she's doubly damned. She started too late and she doesn't have great talent. On the other hand, she's really, really bright and she works hard. She makes the best with the tools you've got."

"I look for talent, but talent is only as good as the desire to work hard," Tenisci said. "She's got a great heart. She loves what she does."

Barrett said Denhoff likely won't progress into a world-class thrower or even have a chance to win a conference championship for that matter. She'll likely score in regular season meets and she'll at least have the chance to throw in England when Penn's spot in the Ivy League rotation comes up to compete against the University of Oxford.

"I'll give you a golf analogy," Barrett said. "She'll get to play St. Andrews [where the British Open is held]. She'll never get to play in the U.S. Open. I guess the nice thing about the sport is that you can play it at different levels."

"I know I can't rely on anything else. I wasn't given the tools to be a great hammer thrower," Denhoff said. "I'm short and I'm proud of it. Kevin told me I make the maximum out of the minimum."

Freeman, on the other hand, has the tools. He's been brought up around hammer royalty, and not just his brothers. When Freeman was 12, his family hosted Russian thrower Yuriy Sedykh, the world record holder in the hammer since 1986. Barrett remembers Sedykh asking if he could show Freeman a few moves.

"Would I mind? No," Barrett responded. "It was kind of like Ted Williams offering to teach my kid how to hit baseballs."

Freeman will be swinging for the fences this weekend in Raleigh. He's been throwing well in practice lately thanks to a new technique designed by Barrett. Freeman now focuses on a point in front of him and swings the ball 180 degrees before moving his head to keep the ball where it needs to be early in his spin.

After finishing second at both of the co-national championships in the weight throw during the indoor season, twice falling short to Nate Rolfe of Kenmore, Wash., Freeman wants another crack at his cross-country counterpart this weekend.

"I was hoping to throw a little bit farther by now," Freeman said. "I had a little bit of a stalemate with myself. I was throwing further in practice than I did at meets. I'm hoping at nationals I'll do what I need to do at a bigger meet. Hopefully I'll be able to surprise some people."

Denhoff won't be making the trip to Raleigh. She'll instead be attending graduation at NKHS Friday night, savoring the moment, walking across the stage knowing she'll be off to Penn in a few months to pursue her education and to continue throwing.

"I didn't have any expectation going into throwing," she said. "This is totally not what I thought would happen. It's definitely changed my high school experience."

It's bound to change her college experience, as well.