Greene doesn’t miss shot at discus

By PATRICK MASON Sports Writer Sunday, July 2, 2017 A lot has been written about Sherrod Greene, the outstanding athlete at Rocky Mount High. His ability on the football field led to him being scooped up by the South Carolina Gamecocks to play linebacker. His versatility during track and field season, however, set him apart from just about everyone else in the state. The Gryphons standout and 2017 Telegram Boys’ Track Athlete of the Year could do just about anything on the track or in a throwing pit, and brought his best on the biggest of stages. So when he won an NCHSAA 3-A state title in the discus, it was just another example of his well-rounded skillset. That’s because the title should have been in shot put. “I think it was a sign,” Greene said. “Since I didn’t win in shot put this year, I got to come out and win in disc. I don’t really like disc, but now I love it.” Greene has impressed many over his high school athletic career, one in which he has had no issues showing his work. Like a long math problem, observing Greene’s path to success can be found in the margins. No one knew better than boys track coach Sonya Pickett about how Greene spent his time. A hard worker, talented, determined. All of those words were used to describe Greene, but when the word ‘surprised’ was said, it was time to listen. If only briefly, Pickett was surprised that Greene won the discus instead of the shot put. His discus heave of 154 feet, 9 ½ inches won by two inches, and it gave him his first discus title. He added two feet to his seed distance at the state meet. Greene had been a dominant force in the throwing events over his high school career, especially in the shot. He earned an at-large bid to regionals as a freshman, and ended up finishing sixth at state. He won a state title last season in the shot put as a junior, and defended his crown with another during indoor track this past winter. But Southern Guilford’s Aaron Wilkerson, who has competed against Greene for four years, spent his final season with Greene in his crosshairs. Wilkerson unleashed a toss of 60-3 ½ on his first throw, proving to be enough to hold off Greene. “After state, Aaron came up to me and told me how hard he hard to work,” Pickett said. “He told me that he knew Sherrod was going to come after him, so he said he had to hit the weight room hard, and really get after it to be able to have a shot in the spring.” Greene bounced back and won the discus, surpring even himself. He said he worked on his technique, smoothing out his spin. This was while he trained with the sprinters during practices, and solidified himself as one of the Gryphons’ top runners. “At regionals last year when he won the shot, he was behind,” Pickett said. “He had to leave mid-round to run in a relay. When he left to run he was down by 4 feet. After he ran, he came back and won by 2 feet. That was really awesome. He basically used the sprints as a warmup.” Pickett, herself, was a talented athlete. She owned a rare blend of strength and speed that she used at East Carolina where she was a sprinter and a thrower. So when Greene appeared on campus as a freshman, she saw parts of herself in the young ninth grader. She had to find ways to utilize every bit of his ability. “I could put him in any event from the 100 (meters) on up to 400 and he would be competitive,” Pickett said. “Normally, that’s fine. But to also be a state champion thrower on top of being one of my best sprinters? That’s someone you can count on for anything. “He is one of if not the best athletes to come through Rocky Mount. In my 26 years of coaching, in all those years of coaching, I haven’t seen someone like that.”