Crimson Thrower Climbs the Ranks

When junior Nick Farnsworth began throwing the javelin during his freshman year of high school, no one could have known how far he would go—with the sport or with the spear. But as he climbs the ranks among the all-time best at Harvard, he’s proving to be one of the best in the country and, perhaps eventually, in the world.

Tired of baseball, a young Farnsworth decided to put his strong arm to use, trying all of the track and field throwing events until he settled on the javelin.

Coincidence? Probably not. The sport was in his blood. Nick’s father, David Farnsworth, holds the third spot on Penn’s all-time list, with a distance of 67.32 meters.

“My father was a great javelin thrower, but there was never any pressure for me to do track or throw the javelin,” Farnsworth said. “I ended up choosing to do it on my own, but the support of my dad and the rest of my family made it a lot easier to continue training for an event that I wasn’t great at from the start.”

Farnsworth began his career as the third-best thrower on his high school team, but stuck with the sport. By his junior year he was the best in the state of Massachusetts, making him an attractive candidate for recruitment.

“He not only was a great talent, but we were incredibly impressed by his work ethic and passion for the sport,” Crimson coach Jason Saretsky explained.

But the recruitment process that brought Farnsworth to Harvard was anything but simple.

With impressive academics and the javelin, Farnsworth had his choice of top tier universities, but didn’t immediately hear from Harvard.

So as summer turned into the fall of his senior year, the thrower took initiative and reached out to Saretsky. In conversations with the coach, Farnsworth found out that the Crimson staff had attempted to get in touch with him, but that his high school neglected to tell him about the letters.

Despite the miscue, once Saretsky and Farnsworth were matched, the decision was easy for the Wilmington, Mass., native.

“I arranged an official visit and came to campus to see what Harvard was really like,” Farnsworth explained. “At the time my top school was Brown, but after the visit I committed to Harvard...I got my likely letter a few months later.”

By the conclusion of his senior year, Farnsworth had thrown 58.62 meters, breaking the Massachusetts state record and solidifying himself as a top javelin thrower. But injury threatened to put a curveball into his entire throwing career.

During his junior year of high school, Farnsworth blew out his elbow, tearing his ulnar collateral ligament (UCL). He went to a doctor, but the tear went undiagnosed.

“I threw in pain for the remainder of my high school career and into my college years,” Farnsworth said. “I had to cut every year short, because the pain in my arm would get worse during the end of the year and I wouldn’t throw as far as I could.”

But after only his first meet with Harvard, coaches sensed that there was a problem with his arm and sent him to get another set of MRIs. The scans confirmed that he tore his UCL years ago.

The treatment plan, including a Tommy John surgery followed by a year and a half of extensive rehabilitation, forced Farnsworth to redshirt.

“Nick had to sit out his sophomore season,” co-captain Ablorde Ashigbi said. “But he still spent more time than anyone else at the track throughout that year, using his injury as an opportunity to improve other aspects of his athleticism and strength.”

This year marks Farnsworth’s first of healthy throwing. Based on his season so far, highlighted by a win this past weekend at Ole Miss and a huge victory at Rice where he threw his personal best, 64.65 meters, it appears that surgery was the right choice.

“It was a great meet overall, but it felt good to be able to go out and really compete for the first time since recovery,” Farnsworth said. “I was just happy to throw without pain and to actually enjoy throwing again.”

The accomplishment bumped him up from fifth in Harvard history, with his previous best of 61.43, to the No. 3 spot.

As Farnsworth improves, he inches closer to his ultimate goal, qualifying for the Olympic Trials next summer and, eventually, making the Olympic Team. He knows that this is a substantial undertaking, but coaches and teammates alike confirm that Farnsworth is capable.

“He definitely has a future in the javelin,” Ashigbi said. “He is, without a doubt, the most dedicated athlete I’ve met during my time here. He almost lives at the track and does everything he possibly can—that’s legal—to be the best javelin thrower he can.”