LJ track: Javelin All-American Mitchell begs to differ

All-American javelin thrower Andrew Mitchell

(second from right, rear), LJ Class of 2017, chats

with athletes and coach before the Vikings'

meet at home against Canyon Hills April 24.

(Photos by Ed Piper

By Ed Piper

"La Jolla (besides having good runners) hasn't had anybody good in the throws until (sophomore) Janae Stanley-Castillo," Viking alumnus Andrew Mitchell was told.

He reacted strongly to that. "I did the throws here (standing on the Edwards Field infield)," Mitchell told a reporter. "I graduated in 2017."

Sorry, never covered him much. The well-proportioned former Viking football player--listed in LJHS football back in 2016 at 6'2", 200 pounds as a lineman--went on to gain NAIA (small college) All-American status at Southern Oregon University.

Andrew, who had been called by a friend to run the discus throw at the La Jolla-Saints-OLP meet March 27, his first time returning to campus in three years, threw the javelin 221'7". He was competing against guys who had been throwing the javelin for years, which he didn't get exposure to during high school. 

In the NAIA national meet at Indiana Wesleyan in Marion, Indiana, last May, "Mitch" also threw the discus. His best mark in that event was 151'5". Those were the two throws he vied in at the nationals.

Best mark in the shot put during college: 45'3.75".

Andrew spread out his college eligibility over seven years during the COVID mess. He attended Mesa College after high school graduation and threw there. He went on to Southern Oregon, where he was a three-time All-American.

Asked what he weighed while throwing the javelin, Mitchell replied 235 pounds. On the football roster at La Jolla High in 2017, his junior year, as a lineman, he was listed at 205 pounds.

Regarding the javelin, he said, "It's hard. I first found it at Mesa. It took a while. It's hard (to do)."

A limitation is space--you need a not of room to throw a javelin, and people can't be in the way. "In California, you're not allowed to throw it in college (or high school)," he said. "Maybe it's okay in club competition."

"I think danger and safety are concerns," he went on. "You're throwing a (sharp) stick in space. In Oregon, it has more space."

Andrew made a funny substitution-of-words when asked how it was visiting his alma mater again. "It's lethargic," he first said. I asked him, "Do you mean there is low energy here?"

He replied, "No, I mix up words sometimes. What's the word? I mean I'm nostalgic" at being on campus again.

During his football-playing years for the Vikings, he played under Coaches Jayson Carter and Matt Morrison. Carter is now associate head coach for Lincoln, a dominant program. Morrison coached one year here, then took his dream job, coaching with his father at his alma mater, Francis Parker, where he had always wanted to coach.

After Morrison left, that meant La Jolla had three different coaches in three seasons. That's a lot of transition and interrupted continuity.

Back in San Diego, living with his godparents in Point Loma, Andrew was hired April 24 as Sea World's head of Environmental Supervision. His major in college was Environmental Science.

After running the discus at his first meet back at LJHS, Mitchell agreed to help out coaching some of the girls and boys in the throws. Hopefully, we'll see more of him in 2026.

Mitchell (left), who starred at La Jolla in football

and track, talks with Annalyse Abrams

before the April 24 meet against Canyon Hills.