Ridge Grad Known as 'Will the Thrill' at Ohio State

A 2010 Ridge High School grad, Will Lauricella didn’t throw a javelin until his junior year in high school. But in short time, the current freshman member of the Ohio State University men’s track and field team—he’s earned the nickname “Will the Thrill”—has already become one of the Big 10’s best in his speciality.

Lauricella has competed in five meets this season and collected impressive results. He set a personal best of 63.27 meters (207-7) and took first place April 17 at The Dual meet in Ann Arbor, Mich. In his season debut on March 26 at the Big Ten vs. SEC Challenge Meet, Lauricella took home first with a mark of 61.36 meters (201-4).

His javelin career was born when a stress fracture in his back put a halt to his football career.

“I decided not to play football anymore for my safety,” Lauricella said. “My friends were on the track team, so I decided to try out and it all worked out.”

To come this far in such a short time is not lost on Lauricella, who put in hard work and extra time perfecting his technique in such an intricate sport.

“I didn’t know much about the sport when I first started,” Lauricella said. “I threw 170 my junior year and after that, I started to get professional help with it.”

Lauricella has ended up enjoying javelin even more than football.

“I ended up loving track and field more,” Lauricella said. “Just because the fact it’s more laid back and I’m more successful at it.”

He cites Ridge coach Tim Howard as a big reason for his success.

“Coach Howard was an amazing influence on me,” Lauricella said. “I would not be able to do this without him.

“One of the reasons I did track was because he was one of the football coaches and he got me to work hard.”

Lauricella collected county titles his junior and senior seasons and improved his output in his senior season, setting a personal best of 59.03m (193-6) at the 2010 NJSIAA Group championships, finishing second overall. Those types of performances got him national attention from college coaches.

Lauricella had his pick of colleges, including Penn State, Florida State and Cincinnati, but ultimately choose Ohio State, where he is majoring in marketing.

“The best thing about competing for Ohio State is their program is successful, has great coaches and is heavily funded,” Lauricella said. “I came up to visit and appreciated the sports here; the facilities are really nice.”

Lauricella has high aspirations for his javelin career.

“I set pretty high goals for myself since I’m at a university competing," Lauricella said. “My goal is to contribute some points to the team. Hopefully, I’ll move up higher in the standings [third currently in points].

“I want to make the national meets so we can put points up for the Big 10 championship.”

Lauricella said javelin is an intricate sport and developing good habits, such as repetition in technique, can be one of the keys to being successful.

“It’s really known as one of the more technical events in track and field,” Lauricella said. “If you look at the event, you wouldn’t understand the sport if you don’t see a good throw.

“But when you see it professionally done, it’s perhaps the most vigorous and intense event on your body and that’s why a lot of people get injured.”

"Most important about javelin is staying healthy,” Lauricella said. “People who have been doing it for 10 years have an advantage.”

The stress fracture in his back has luckily only been a minor blimp on his path toward becoming a star in the sport.

“In the beginning, I swelled up pretty bad,” Lauricella said. “But I’ve been doing rehab three times a week so it went away and luckily I haven’t been injured all season.”

Thus, “The Thrill” was born.

“I never would’ve imagined it,” Lauricella said with a laugh about competing in javelin. “I was a quarterback and had a pretty decent arm, so why not try it out. All you have to do is throw it, right?”