Columbus East’s Jacob Guse throws the discus at the Columbus North Invitational Saturday April 7, 2023.
The Republic file photo
Jacob Guse had some lofty goals coming into his senior track and field season, namely repeating as Hoosier Hills Conference champion in the shot put and discus and making it to state in at least one of those events.
Although the Columbus East senior has been slowed by a couple of injuries from football season, his track and field goals are still within reach. A quest to conquer the first of those goals will take place on Thursday when he competes in the HHC boys meet at Floyd Central.
“The plan this year was to get to state, but conference goal was the second,” Guse said. “I’m optimistic going into it. I know I definitely have the potential. I know it’s there. Bringing it out on the day through the stress is going to make or break.”
Guse has been through plenty of pain the past couple years. The offensive lineman sustained a knee injury during his junior football season, but played through it his senior year.
Following his senior year, an MRI revealed a partial meniscus tear, and the fat pad in his knee was three times the normal size. So a couple weeks after the season, his father, orthopedic surgeon and team doctor Cary Guse, scoped the knee.
“We thought it was just muscle weakness, so we tried to get it strengthened back up,” Jacob said. “It was feeling pretty good until I got back into football season the next year, and it just didn’t hold up. I played through the season, icing every day, not fun stuff, probably enough meds to kill an elephant at times with how much Adderall I was on.”
Then at the beginning of this track season, Guse’s elbow started hurting, and he wanted to do MRI. But he ended up getting an X-ray and found out he had broken his elbow during football season and didn’t know it.
Guse still has a partial tendon tear in his right elbow that he is going through this season.
“Discus isn’t too terrible,” Guse said. “The worst one is shot by quite a bit. But that’s why I’ve been wearing that sleeve this year, to keep it all warm and keep it all in motion.”
Guse’s season-best in the shot put (47 feet) came in the season opener against Bloomington South. He threw a season-best 146-6 in the discus three weeks ago in a dual meet at Columbus North.
“I really haven’t had a great breakthrough,” Guse said. “I’m still about two feet off (last year’s best) in shot put and only about a foot off in discus, which is good. But shot put, I know I have so much more potential I could tap into this year. Discus, I’ve got better form, and I’m still getting some of that strength back. I know I can pop one soon, but it’s all a matter of competing in and out every day.”
Columbus East’s Jacob Guse competes in the discus at Columbus North Thursday April 19, 2023.
The Republic file photo
This spring, Guse has had to cut back on the amount he has been able to lift and the times he has been able to throw the shot and discus in practice.
“I didn’t have as good of a preseason as I would have loved to have,” Guse said. “This year, it’s been a lot of me getting in my own head. That’s where a lot of the struggles have come from. I have not had the best season, but part of it is from retraining my knees. I have to get back the strength and get back the muscle memory that I had before surgery. Then, the other part is working through that pain with my elbow. I can’t throw as many in practice. It hurts too much. I can’t overthrow. I can’t lift as much as I used to.”
Jacob Guse
Guse’s season-bests in the shot and discus rank him second in those events going into Thursday’s HHC meet.
“He’s had a tough time this year with the injuries that he’s had,” East throwing coach Jonathan Martin said. “When you have knee injuries and an elbow problem, for a thrower, that’s a big deal. He’s been working hard on his form so he can get back to where he was last year. He’s worked really hard battling through these injuries and getting his technique the best it can be so he can repeat as conference champion.”
A regional qualifier in the shot last year, Guse is hoping to make it there in both events this season and possibly make a run at contending for a state berth.
“I knew the beginning of the season was going to be a little rough because of the little amount of time that I had and the injuries that I had coming into it,” Guse said. “But the goal has always been to get to state. Getting to state is what I always wanted to do. I kind of goofed it in discus last year. I had somewhat of a chance, but now that the big guy across town (state shot put champ and discus runner-up Tucker Smith, now at Oklahoma) is out of here, there definitely is a spot opened up.”
Last month, Guse committed to compete in both football and track and field at Wabash College. After the Wabash football coach came to last year’s college showcase at East and talked to Guse, he took a visit and applied to the school and knew that’s where he wanted to go.
“Wabash was one of the few colleges that reached out to me,” Guse said. “I really felt that I was welcome, and I felt the brotherhood going into it. It was a special experience for me. It kind of reached out and told me it would be a great school for me. The more I looked into it, the better things got — great academics, great alumni network, great sports programs.
“I reached out to do football, and then I ended up talking to the track coach, and it’s kind of a similar situation to here, where they actually encourage you to play multiple sports and encourage you to further your passions,” he added. “Quite honestly just going into it, I’m quite happy with what I’m doing right now. I’m happy with doing track and football, and I’d be ecstatic to do it in college.”
