With a throw of 64.42 meters on Saturday, Pessala, a thrower on the men’s track and field team, ensured his place in Princeton athletic history by winning his fourth straight outdoor league title. His throw, the longest at Heps in 22 years and the third-longest ever, was an appropriate end to Pessala’s Ivy career.
In his four years at Princeton, Pessala has put together one of the most impressive strings of successes the track and field program has seen. Winning the outdoor championship each year, only dropping indoors once because of an injury at the end of his sophomore year, Pessala has certainly come a long way since high school.
Pessala said he “didn’t know what to expect” coming into his freshman year at Princeton. Unlike most elite collegiate throwers, he only started throwing in his junior year of high school. He explained that he chose Princeton largely because of the coaches, whom he hoped would help him develop over the next four years.
Under the tutelage of head coach Fred Samara, a 33-year veteran of Princeton track, Pessala quickly learned the nuances of his events.
“I was picking up little things,” he explained. “I always hoped to be throwing well enough to be on an All-Ivy level, but to be going after these 25- to 30-year-old records? I think it’s going very, very well.”
Pessala emphasized that though he is a member of the track and field team, the events he competes in are individual in nature.
“Throwing is a unique sport because you are part of the team, and you are competing against other throwers, but it’s very individual,” he explained. “So even as you get older, you go into it knowing you’re not going to be contending for the win, per se, but you want to do better than you did the time before.”
From his first day as a Tiger, Pessala went after the rest of the Ivy League.
“As a freshman, I wanted to make as much of an impact as I could for the team,” he said. “I was able to win the indoor and outdoor Ivy championship meets, which was incredibly fulfilling.”
His success in large-scale tournaments only grew from there. His proudest moment for the team as a whole came when it won the indoor Ivy championship his sophomore year, he said, noting that it was the only time the Tigers won the league title during his collegiate career.
On an individual level, his accomplishments continued to stack up that year..
“[Sophomore year], I kind of wanted to make it into the postseason,” he said. “So I made it to NCAA regionals.” He also he won both indoor and outdoor Ivy titles that year but in December of his sophomore year, a hernia put his run of success on hold.
“It was the kind of injury where I couldnít really lift,” he said. Still wanting to compete, he told the trainers, “I was still going to make a contribution to the team. I would much rather score some points for the team [than not compete].”
Pessala did just that, losing by only five inches to a thrower from Cornell in the indoor championships the next fall with the hernia still hampering him. The performance gave the team eight points toward their final score at the meet. Pessala rebounded from his injury that spring to win the outdoor title.
By the end of his junior year, Pessala had won five of a possible six league championships, but he still resolved to improve during his senior year.
“This year was the most productive,” Pessala said. He stayed in Princeton over the summer to train, trimming 55 pounds off his previously 300-pound frame.
“I’m much stronger than I was and much, much quicker,” he said. “I’m really paying a lot of attention to being as explosive as possible.”
Though his personal best had increased in inch-long increments before, he bumped it up by a full eight feet over the summer. Named an All-American at the NCAA Indoor Championships at Texas A&M this year, Pessala was ranked fifth nationally heading into last weekend’s Heps.
Earlier this season, Pessala broke Josh McCaughey ’05’s Princeton record in the hammer throw. “[McCaughey] was a legend,” Pessala explained. “He held national records in high school for years, so it is unbelievable to be able to break his record. He was the first person who called me after [I broke it] — maybe an hour afterwards.” Since then, Pessala has only improved upon his record mark.
Speaking before Heps, Pessala said he aimed to break the Ivy record in the hammer throw, which he said was a mark he surpassed in practice. Though he fell short of the Ivy record, he did unleash the event’s best throw in 22 years.
While Pessala’s Ivy career may be over, he is not done throwing quite yet. He still has multiple NCAA competitions to play in this year, a testament to his growth as an athlete while donning the Orange and Black. “What’s developed most for me has been my focus and mental preparation for competitions, which is probably the most important aspect of throwing,” he explained.
Balancing athletics with a career may present obstacles though, Pessala said.
“Throwing and training might be an option,” he said. “The hard part is finding a source of income that allows training at the same time.”
Pessala said he would have a better idea of what the future holds for him after the NCAA championships next month hosted by the University of Arkansas.
“I’d love to keep throwing,”he said. “I’ve only been throwing for five-and-a-half or six years, so I’m very early in the developmental stage. Most elite hammer throwers have been throwing for 10 years.”
Still, he said, his potential future in throwing is a question of finding the right opportunity.
“I’m optimistic,” he said. “There are a lot of great development programs and track teams out there.”
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