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Meisenheimer will throw for Wayne State College

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HARTINGTON — A lost season did not keep Hartington-Newcastle’s Matthew Meisenheimer down. He has now found a college home to keep his love of track and field alive.

Last month, Meisenheimer signed a National Letter of Intent to throw for the NCAA Division II Wayne State program squad beginning in the fall.

“Matthew has worked very hard,” Hartington-Newcastle head track and field coach Blair Kalin said. “He has very good college potential. He is very coachable and is going to be working with one of the best throwing coaches around. He has great strength and awesome footwork. He will fit in very well at Wayne State.”

Meisenheimer is expecting to throw for Wayne State, but hasn’t been told any specifics as of yet.

Wayne State competed for Meisenheimer’s services as he said a few other programs in North Dakota and Illinois were interested, but all he had his eyes on was the college less than an hour down the road.

“I think I am as prepared as I will ever be,” Meisenheimer said. “It’s one of those things that I just need to hit the ground running as far as participating and competing goes. My (high school) numbers weren’t terrible, but I am kind of sad I didn’t get to my senior year to increase on those numbers.

“I think I did well my junior and sophomore years.”

Meisenheimer threw both discus and shot put but his final year was lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

He added he would find the possibility of participating in the javelin could be “a very interesting experience.”

He admits he hoped to participate in college as an athlete, but it wasn’t something he had looked hard into.

“I started looking at Wayne and was like, I loved their rugby program,” Meisenheimer said. “Then I found out I wouldn’t be able to get a scholarship for that, so I switched to track.”

Without being able to have a senior year in high school, he at least took the free time to weight lift and called that a “bonus,” but still the lost campaign was a “big disappointment for me.”

Meisenheimer continued to throw and build his strength.

“Hopefully, I will be able to continue where I left off,” he said. “I think I am in a pretty good spot. We haven’t been able to do any group practices, but I managed to borrow a shot put and discus from my coaches, so I have just been practicing with those regularly.”

Meisenheimer is looking at studying music education with the hopes of teaching the subject as a profession.

“I think I’ll stay in the area for a little bit, but at some point, I would like to move around a little bit for a change of scenery,” Meienheimer said.