Today would have marked the start of this year’s OFSAA Track and Field Championships at Toronto’s Varsity Stadium and signifies the start of our top three countdown of OFSAA performers. At number three on our all-time list we have Carleton Place High School’s greatest javelin thrower, Cheryl Coker.
Coker kicked off her OFSAA career with a fourth place finish in the midget girls event in 1980 and would build from there with her first medal coming in her grade 11 year when she took bronze in the junior girls event at 37.78 metres.
Coker would continue to hone her craft over the next couple years, throwing a couple hours a day in the fields at the high school and venturing in to Ottawa twice a week to work with javelin guru, Bill Heikkila.
Come grade 12, the work continued to pay off as she would move up to a silver medal in her first year in the senior competition behind Fay Roblin of Prince Edward County. Coker’s improvements continued through the summer where she won the Canadian junior title and represented Canada internationally, giving a glimpse of what was in store for her final high school season.
Coker’s final year of high school competition brought along even further distances. Before even reaching the east regional competition, Coker had already disposed of the Canadian Interscholastic record with a massive toss of 51.94 metres. The mark has been one for the ages, alluding all who have followed, including the likes of Canadian senior record holder Elizabeth Gleadle. In fact, there are only four Interscholastic marks that are older.
In a 1983 interview with the Ottawa Citizen, Coker explained that it was not the distances that she was focused on, but rather the technique. “The distance will come if the technique is right,” she said. “Strength is important, but to me, how you get ready for the throw and carry through is more important.”
Coker’s technique was certainly on point as she would qualify for OFSAA with another 50+ metre throw to break the east regional record by more than five metres. A week later at OFSAA, Coker would finally gain that elusive gold medal, and with it, she added a new senior girls record of 48.28 metres. The record would stand for two years until training partner Louise Perrault (#6 on our list) would increase it to the still standing 49.48 metres, but in the past 36 years only Perrault and Valerie Tulloch (1991) have managed to throw further at OFSAA than Coker.
Following her high school career, Coker spent a year at Florida State University throwing for the Seminoles before transferring to Louisiana State University where she would win a bronze medal at the NCAA Championships and earn All-American accolades . Coker would also represent Canada internationally at the Commonwealth Games, Pan American Games, Francophone Games and World Student Games.
Following her time in Louisiana, Coker pursued graduate work at the University of Virginia where she obtained her Ph.D. She currently teaches motor learning at Plymouth State University in New Hampshire and has also authored a book on the subject. Coker was was inducted into the Lions Hall of Fame in 2016.