By Spencer Anderson
WSU Men's Field team captain Travis Pickett is a redshirt junior who throws the hammer but track and field isn't a sport he's always been committed to.
As a high schooler, Pickett wanted to be a football player and track was just something to do in the offseason. He picked up the hammer during his sophomore year, but never thought it would be something to continue doing collegiately. Things began to fall into place his junior year, and when he tore his MCL during his senior football season, it became clear that the hammer throw was what he would pursue.
His Snohomish High School track coach was Tuck Gionet and Jay Adams was the throws coach. Mary Etter, a former University of Oregon standout, was a hammer coach and though the hammer wasn't contested at high school meets, Pickett would stay after track practice two or three times a week to practice with Etter.
“They knew that I had a future with hammer and not so much the other events,” Pickett said. “They helped me figure out what I should focus on. Tuck helped develop me as a leader. He would talk to me as a mentor, and he would say 'you really are passionate about what you do, and I want you to help other kids be passionate.' He really helped me focus on what I want, and he helped me push toward hammer and shape the vision of, 'this is what I want to do, I'm going to work for it.'"
Pickett has also found parallels between what he does on the field and a hobby he enjoys off the field: playing the guitar.
"I'm still fresh. I've been playing the guitar off and on for maybe a year and half now, but I'm still learning,” Pickett said. “(Former WSU thrower) Oliver Henry played it, and every time he'd come over he'd start playing, and I'd think, 'man, I love hearing that, I just need to pick one up and start teaching myself.' So that's how it started. It's very frustrating, but it teaches you about track because when you throw, you're not going to get it right at first, and it's very frustrating, so you've got to keep just grinding away."
Athletically, that attitude has already helped Pickett to success. His personal-record best hammer throw is 195-feet, 7 inches thrown at the WSU-UW Dual meet this spring. He is the team leader in this event. And he takes the captain duties seriously, even though he is a junior.
"There's so many things that go into being a captain,” Pickett said. “It's more than just being able to stand in front of people and talk (although) I love talking with my athletes. I love talking track. I want to know how they are, how they're doing, what I can do to help them if they need any help, what they like, what they don't like. I'm really interpersonal. I like to connect with my athletes because I care about the athletes, and I keep saying "my" athletes, but it's our team, and that's how I think about it.”
Connecting with the team off the field is important, as well. Pickett his currently roommates with fellow thrower Jake Callaghan, but he makes it a goal to have a relationship with everyone on the team, get to know their side of the story, and become friends with everybody. The team has bonded over movies and other common forms of entertainment, but this year's team has also collectively picked up a unique musical instrument.
"We've learned how to play the spoons, as goofy as it sounds,” Pickett said. “I'm serious. Two spoons. Silverware. Look it up on YouTube, it's people just hitting spoons. It's not very hard, kind of goofy, but we were just sitting around and we saw a video and were like, 'we can learn how to do that!' So, that's fresh."
A self-described outdoorsman, Pickett enjoys hunting and fishing. He and his dad, Dave, always take a trip to Moses Lake each fall for the opening day of hunting season. Along with the athletic opportunity the Cougars provided him, Pickett chose to attend WSU because the “middle-of-nowhere” feel that Pullman provided for him, and he felt right at home in his outdoorsy nature once he saw the hills and the trees in Moscow.
A criminal justice major minoring in sociology, Pickett plans on going into firefighting once he graduates next year.