A football player without a team at the moment, Air Force recruit Owen Edlen filling the gap by closing in on Chesterton discus record

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

Forever a football player first as an athlete, Chesterton senior Owen Edlen finds himself in unfamiliar territory this spring.
He capped his high school career by making all-state as a senior. He won’t be a cadet at the Air Force Academy until he reports to Colorado Springs in the summer.
“It’s weird because now I’m not on the high school team that I was on, but I’m also not on the college team that I’m going to be on yet, so it’s like this weird gray area of no football,” Edlen said. “Last year at this time, we’re leading the team in offseason workouts, and getting ready for camp season to try to get recruited. Now I’ve been recruited, my football season’s over, and I’m just in this weird limbo.”
His forever revved motor being what it is, Edlen is not filling the time idly. Instead, he is chasing two long-standing track and field records, the shot put and discus. For now, he’s Throwin’ Owen Edlen and he’s giving quarterbacks a temporary break.
Edlen placed eighth, throwing the shot put in the rain at the state meet with a mark of 55 feet, 10.5 inches. Rick Fulton set the school record of 60-6.0 in 1980.
“Definitely,” Edlen said of whether having no football team might benefit his throwing. He added that he thinks both school records are “within reach.”
Edlen finished second at the sectional in the discus last spring with a 144-11, but didn’t make it to state with a seventh-place finish at the regional (138-10).
Even so, teammates predicted the discus would be his best event before long. Based on this season’s early results, it looks as though they knew their teammate quite well.
Edlen shattered his personal best with a 159-8 in the season-opening home dual meet vs. Valparaiso. Then five days later, he outdid himself again, throwing a 163-4 at the Garry Nallenweg Chesterton Relays on Saturday.
Shawn Schleizer set the school record in 1989 with a 166-1 throw, so Edlen is 3 feet, 9 inches from tying the mark, 3-10 from breaking it. He will try to get that extra distance Tuesday at a home meet with Lake Central and Michigan City in town.
“I would go out at practice last year and I would throw one close to 160,” Edlen said. “I would show glimpses of the potential that I had. That being said, I would never really show out in a meet with that potential.”
Until this season.
“First throw, 159, very excited about that,” Edlen said, cheating himself 8 inches in retelling the story. “And all the other throws were farther than my first throw. Unfortunately, I scratched on all of them. So that’s something to work on, making sure the consistency stays there, making sure I stay in the ring.”
He explained what happens when he fouls.
“Basically, I’m spinning in the ring and my foot either touches the ring or steps outside the ring right after I throw,” he said. “On my last throw, I just touched the ring. That was my longest throw ever. I’m going to say it was in the 165 to 170 range.”
If Edlen doesn’t get one or both records this season, it won’t because he cheated himself. Two days before the season-opening meet, Edlen spent a good chunk of his Sunday at the high school, going through a football workout with Trojans junior Jack Gearhart. After Gearhart headed home, Edlen headed over to the throwing rings to work on his technique. It’s not an uncommon sight to see Edlen out there alone, heaving metal objects.
Owen Edlen is a football player in limbo at the moment, but he’s never an idling athlete.