By Mark Moschetti
 
BELLINGHAM, Wash. – Collectively, they won four NCAA Division II national titles. Four conference championships. Received 10 All-American awards. Ranked among the top three finishers nationally eight times.
 
All of this happened during the brief period from 2007 to 2017 when the Western Washington University threesome was renowned for their javelin success.
 
The talented trio even competed together in the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials held at Eugene, Oregon - Track Town, USA.
 
Monika Gruszecki. Katie Reichert. Bethany Drake. 
  
"When we talk to recruits and people who are semi-familiar with our program, those three names come up so often," said Ben Stensland, now the WWU head track & field coach who worked with all of them during their competitive days and his days as a Vikings' assistant coach. "It's such an incredible story for each of them to see how much success they had."
 
By the time all of them had taken their final throws in Western blue and white — Gruszecki in 2011, Reichert in 2016 and Drake in 2017 — Reichert ranked No. 1 (54.97m/180 feet, 4 inches) in the school record book, Drake was No. 2 (54.18m/177-9) and Gruszecki was No. 3 (49.85m/163-6) in that event since the restricted flight implement was introduced in 1999 — and that's where they still are.
 
And no one else has come within six feet.
 
"All three were so bought into what they were doing – and they also just had so much fun doing it," Stensland said. "Those are the things that stand out when I think of them. They put in so much work that was above and beyond. What gets me excited is when I'm working with student-athletes who are passionate about what they do."
 
Gruszecki won the NCAA Division II title as a freshman in 2007, earned silver in 2008, and again claimed the national title as a redshirt senior in 2011. That same year she also placed first at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference meet.
 
Reichert reached the podium at nationals all four years, including being among the top three as a sophomore (second, trailed by one inch) in 2014 and as a senior (third) in 2016. She also won the GNAC meet title in 2014 and 2016.
 
Drake captured the NCAA II crown as a sophomore in 2014, was second in 2016, and reached the top again as a senior in 2017. She was the GNAC meet title winner in 2017 and still owns the overall conference record of 177-9.
 
"Monika's passion for this event has really been unparalleled," said Stensland, who got to work with her just during her 2011 senior season as an assistant coach. "She was dragging me out to practice and asking all the questions. She would say, 'Hey, I watched this on YouTube,' or 'I read this article.'
 
"Then Katie came in and she had so much energy and excitement and started having success and got more and more bought in," he continued. "The next year, Bethany comes in and it just became kind of contagious. That's something, especially those three, that really got me excited about their success."
 
FIRST, THERE WAS MONIKA …
 
 
When it comes to fitting an archetype for a javelin thrower …
 
… Monika Gruszecki didn't fit.
 
"Typically, they're taller and lankier," the 5-foot-4 Gruszecki said. "Despite that, Pee Wee (Halsell) never sugarcoated it or minced words. He said, 'If you were taller, great. But you'll do just fine. You're here; let's do what we can.'
 
"A few times a year, I would get teased for being short, but no big deal," Gruszecki added. "I was able to go on my merry way without focusing on why I'm different – and that was liberating. I liked being a javelin thrower and being out there on my own and figuring out how to do things."
 
Working first with Halsell, assistant coach Brandi Stevenson and then with Stensland, she definitely figured out how to do things.
 
Along with her pair of NCAA victories (2007, 2011) – making her the first Vikings track and field athlete to claim multiple titles in any event – she had the 2008 second-place finish, a GNAC crown (2011), and a spot in the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials.
 
And yet, most anyone meeting Gruszecki for the first time probably wouldn't have seen her becoming a championship-caliber competitor.
 
"Did I expect her to be a national champion right away? No," said Halsell, who retired in December 2022 after 36 years at the helm. "But at the same time, she worked hard and she improved. She had a mind that (accepted) coaching."
 
By the end of her 2007 freshman year, Gruszecki was more than just a championship-caliber competitor. She was a champion, winning the Division II national title with a throw of 145 feet, 8 inches.
 
"I was a freshman and had no idea what I was doing and had no expectations," she said. "(In the first meet of the year), I was down in Tacoma, no stress whatsoever, and I got a provisional (qualifying) mark. I didn't know what any of that meant."
 
Gruszecki's mark of 146-10 came on what was the very first throw of her college career. What it meant was that she ultimately had a chance to go to the NCAA nationals in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Memorial Day weekend of that spring.
 
There was a pre-meet banquet, and Gruszecki tried to savor every moment.
 
With that 146-10 in the season opener, Gruszecki came in as the No. 5 seed among the 18 entrants. Her 145-8 came on the third and final throw of the three preliminary rounds, moving her into the finals for three more attempts. She wasn't able to top that, but the closest anyone came to her was 144-10.
 
Gruszecki thus became Western's first national track champion since the school switched from NAIA to NCAA in 1999 and the third javelin champion overall. (Joan Williamson in 1984 and Dave VanderGriend in 1968, both NAIA, were the others.)
 
"She got in there and she competed," Halsell said. "We just wanted to throw what we threw to get there. Getting to nationals was a nail-biter for me as a coach, but her mark held up."
 
Gruszecki was consistently in the 140s as a sophomore in 2008 and returned to NCAAs as the defending champion, coming in as the No. 7 seed at 146-2. On her very first attempt at the meet in Walnut, California, she hurled it 152-3 – a personal best by nearly 5-1/2 feet and her first time in the 150s. That wound up as her best mark of the day and gave her second place. The only one ahead of her was Abilene Christian's Lina Brivule with a mark of 169-9.
 
NEW DIRECTION … HALFWAY AROUND THE WORLD
 
Life took a notable turn for Gruszecki soon after. She moved to Germany for the 2008-09 school year, settling in the town of Marburg, about an hour north of Frankfurt. During her time at Meadowdale High School in Edmonds, roughly 75 miles south of Bellingham, she studied German and participated in an exchange program. She built a close friendship with one of her fellow exchange students, and they visited each other regularly.
 
On one of those trips, Gruszecki, who was a double-major in English literature and German, decided she wanted to live there "for the rest of my life." She enrolled as a full-time student at Philipps University, to improve her language skills while also aiming to become an English teacher.
 
Throwing the javelin was not a part of her daily routine.
 
"I didn't know that stuff existed over there, or that I was about an hour away from the world champion," Gruszecki said.
 
At one point, she found out that all the credits she had already earned at Western wouldn't transfer to Germany.
 
"I would have had to start over, and I thought I'd never graduate," Gruszecki said. "I thought I'd better go back to the States and finish my degree – I didn't want to be in school until I was 25."
 
Back in Bellingham in time for the 2010 season, she threw as far as 143-4 while dealing with shoulder and rotator cuff injuries, but did not reach the NCAAs. Before the 2011 season, Gruszecki met Stensland, who was a student assistant coach while working toward his bachelor's degree in kinesiology.
 
It took some time for Stensland to convince Gruszecki that his approach to training would work.
 
"He was aghast at how far I had gotten with how little training I had put into it," she said. "I'm 5-4 and figured I wouldn't throw farther than 140, maybe 150. Ben opened my eyes and said, 'You're capable of so much more. You don't even lift weights. There's a lot of room for improvement.'
 
"I didn't believe him at first. I didn't have any concept that if you lift this much this week, back off next week, then lift more the following week, then test 10 weeks out, you'll see improvement."
 
Stensland – himself a former javelin thrower – said the biggest thing he did was just convince her that his approach to training would work in Gruszecki's favor.
 
"It was just explaining some of the science behind it and talking about world-class athletes who operate in this fashion or train in this way," he said. "I had the time and the energy and the expertise to help her get through the shoulder injury. We just needed to find a way to enable her to compete."
 
It was evident early in that 2011 season that Stensland's work with Gruszecki was beginning to pay off. At the Stanford Invitational on the final weekend of March, she was back at 140. Just one week later at the UPS Shotwell Invitational, she hit 150-6.
 
In May, Gruszecki won the GNAC title with a then-personal best 156-11. That was enough to make her the No. 2 seed for the NCAAs in Turlock, California, two weekends after the conference meet. The only one seeded ahead of her was very familiar: Brittany Aanstad of Seattle Pacific at 159-4. The other 150-plus in the field was No. 3 seed Amber Kloster of Pittsburg State (Kansas) at 151-2.
 
Gruszecki opened with a mark of 154 feet even. On her next try, she threw it 163 feet, 6 inches.
 
No one else got within 12 feet of her.
 
"The expression on her face was fantastic," Stensland recalled. "I'm looking at a picture on my wall (as he was speaking) of her giving Pee Wee a fist bump, with her mom in the background. That's what athletics is about … that gratification of things coming together."
 
While Gruszecki captured the crown, Aanstad was second at 151-6; Kloster wound up fourth at 144-2.
 
"I'd say that was more special (than the 2007 title)." Gruszecki said. "It was much harder-earned; it was much more intentional. … I think I was just very determined and dead-set on a few things. I didn't want to have any regrets about my senior season."
 
Gruszecki wasn't shy about dishing ample gratitude to Stensland.
 
"I didn't know what my potential was; I didn't know I could re-invent myself. I didn't have a concept of that," she said. "That was important to learn, and Ben gets the credit for that. You're showing up for practice in September and he says, 'You can back-squat 100 pounds. You probably can do 200 by the end of the season.' He patiently proved me wrong."
 
Or perhaps, judging from her success that final season, she proved him right.
 
… THEN THERE WAS KATIE
 
 
On the way to picking a college to attend, Western was on Katie Reichert's short list.
 
Becoming an athlete for the Vikings was not on that list.
 
"I looked around and I definitely wanted to stay in the Pacific Northwest near home," said Reichert, a native of Longview and a graduate of Kelso High School, both in Southwest Washington. "I was looking at some community colleges to see if I could play volleyball or do track.
 
"I was interested in Western. (But) if I chose to go to Western, it was like my no-sports school," she said. "I didn't think I could play anything there."
 
The javelin ultimately changed all of that.
 
Primarily a hurdler and high jumper at Kelso, Reichert didn't start throwing the javelin until her senior season. The first time she threw it, her mark was 97 feet 8 inches at a mid-March, season-opening dual meet. Just seven days later at another dual meet, she added more than 30 feet, topping out at 128-10.
 
"I had enough success early to keep me interested," she said. "I always worked hard at whatever I was focusing on."
 
Then two months after that at the Class 3A state meet (the second-largest of Washington's six classifications), she let it rip 135-3, giving her second place.
 
"I hadn't made it to state before (in other events), so that showed me, 'Maybe I'm all right at this,'" Reichert said.
 
Reichert's performances began to garner her some notice. Along with her solid javelin efforts, she also had gone 5-4 in the high jump and had aspirations of being a heptathlete.
 
"I was a three-sport athlete in high school, and in my freshman year, I participated on five teams: school volleyball, basketball and track, as well as (club) volleyball and softball. I was always doing so many different sports, so many things, the multis were a way to continue that," Reichert said. "Training for different events and a bunch of different movements – it was just fun to get to do a bunch of different things."
 
In fact, as Stensland pointed out, doing "a bunch of different things" factors into becoming a solid javelin competitor.
 
"What I sell to our javelin throwers is you have to be able to do it all," he said. "You have to be strong and powerful like the other throws, you have to do a ton of sprint work, and basically be a good long jumper."
 
Since there's no javelin event on the indoor track schedule, Reichert focused on hurdling, high jumping, and sprinting during her 2012 freshman winter season.
 
She continued with that let's-do-a-little-bit-of-everything once the spring outdoor season began. Of course, the javelin was now on her weekly competition schedule as well, and in her outdoor debut at the Puget Sound Quad meet, she threw it 134-4 – far enough to get onto the NCAA provisional qualifying list – along with high jumping 4-11 3/4 and anchoring the victorious 4x400 relay.
 
As that spring went along, she even entered two heptathlons. The second of those was the GNAC Championships, in which she placed third with 4,269 points.
 
But from the start of that outdoor season, it was evident early on that the javelin was becoming her big thing.
 
Near the end of March, Reichert was up to 143-0. By mid-April, it was 146-9. On the way to earning a bronze in the GNAC multis, she threw it 148-4. The farther she threw, the higher she climbed on the NCAA qualifying list – although initially, she didn't realize the significance of that.
 
"It was early in the season and Tim Clendaniel (a Western decathlete and horizontal jumper) came up and said, 'You just did a provisional.' And I said, 'What's that?' Then I got it explained to me, and he said, 'You might go to nationals.' I said, 'What? I was just trying to throw far.'"
 
Her 148-4 from GNACs qualified her for the DII nationals as the No. 7 seed among the 17 athletes who advanced in the javelin. At Pueblo, Colorado's altitude, she threw a career-best 152-5 – her first-ever 150 – and earned a spot on the awards podium with an All-American seventh-place finish.
 
"It was definitely a complete surprise to make it to nationals that year," she said.
 
In a season with a preponderance of positives, the one negative for Reichert actually occurred at nationals when she hurt her elbow the day before the scheduled javelin event. It didn't keep her from competing, and she was back in action during the 2013 winter indoor season, placing third in the GNAC pentathlon. But her elbow still hadn't fully healed, so she elected to redshirt for outdoors that spring and "let it rest a little more and see what we could do."
 
TURNING TOWARD THE JAVELIN
 
By the time the 2014 outdoor schedule was approaching – and after two more indoor pentathlons, including a fourth-place effort at GNAC – Reichert made a decision that would influence the rest of her career.
 
"The coaches approached me during my sophomore year and said, 'You can be really good at this (javelin). You should consider putting down (the other events).' Ultimately, I came back to them and said, 'I think you're right. Let's put more time into this and see what can happen.'
 
Stensland said he, Halsell, and sprints/multis coach David Burnett agreed that Reichert had the potential to be an All-American in the heptathlon – but also had the potential to contend for javelin championships.
 
"To Pee Wee's credit, we take this information to our student-athlete," said Stensland, "and we ask, 'What are you most motivated to do? What gets you the most excited?''
 
Reichert added, "I'm grateful for having that conversation. I don't think I would have had that foresight at that time."
 
At the season-opening PLU Invitational, Reichert threw 139-2 in her first javelin competition in 21-1/2 months. At the Oregon Preview two weeks later, she went 162-1, nearly 10 feet farther than her previous best of 152-5 at the 2012 NCAAs.
 
She went on to win that year's GNAC championship. Then Bethany Drake and Reichert teamed up for a 1-2 finish at nationals, separated by just one inch (two centimeters): 165-3 for Drake, 165-2 for Reichert.
 
Of the six meets that spring in which they both threw the javelin, that was their fifth 1-2 finish, with Drake on top three times, and Reichert twice.
 
"A lot of times, in the moment, you don't realize what's happening," Reichert said about how close they usually were. "But then you look back and go, 'Whoa – that was crazy. We were just at it every day, working hard."
 
Halsell said that while Reichert could be her own harshest critic, "At the same time, she was passionate. She wanted to be at the top. That's where she wanted to be."
 
With her focus now solely on the javelin, Reichert skipped the indoor seasons in 2015 and 2016. She returned to the NCAAs in 2015, placing fifth, then won another GNAC title in 2016. She finished third at nationals, and the very final throw of her collegiate career was also the farthest throw of her collegiate career: 177 feet, 3 inches, giving her third place, just six inches behind second-place Drake.
 
That was Reichert's second time in the 170s. The first time? Her opening throw of the day, which went 175-7.
 
Of course, there would be more throws to come, including the Olympic Trials, which were just a couple months away on the calendar. But on that 2016 late May Saturday in Bradenton, Florida, as she prepared to take off her WWU jersey for the last time, she could do so having thrown almost 43 feet farther than when she put it on for the first time on an early March Saturday in 2012 in Tacoma.
 
"I just showed up and was excited to train, eager to push myself and excited to have the opportunity to compete and trying to do it at a higher level," she said in looking back. "I was nervous about taking those steps, but was excited to do so."
 
 
… AND THEN THERE WAS BETHANY
 

The way Bethany Drake sees it, all nerves are good nerves.
 
Those nerves – and her approach to them – certainly served her well during four competitive seasons with the Vikings.
 
Sometimes, they helped get her into first place: NCAA titles as a sophomore and again as a senior. A GNAC championship as a senior. Numerous first-place finishes in regular-season meets. Multiple postseason awards.
 
Other times, they helped her come up with a personal-best performance, even if, on some days, a fellow competitor threw it just a little farther.
 
Case in point was the 2016 NCAAs in Bradenton, Florida. After capturing the NCAA crown in 2014, Drake had redshirted in 2015 while dealing with an injury.
 
Now, she was back in action. Just four weeks before arriving in Bradenton, Drake recorded a personal-best mark of 171 feet, 6-1/2 inches – her first one in the 170s and nearly two feet farther than her previous best of 169-5 3/4 from 2014.
 
That made Drake the No. 3 seed, behind only Allison Updike of Azusa Pacific (175-10 1/2) and Estefanie Lopez of Fort Hays State (173-8). Both of them were reasonably within reach …
 
… or at least they were until Updike, on her very first throw, threw it 183 feet, 10 inches. That was – and nearly a decade later, still is – the Division II women's record.
 
"In that moment, you have so much adrenaline," Drake recalled. "I was mentally at the point that I tried to tell myself that any time I got nervous, all nerves are good nerves. I tried to take the adrenaline from watching her throw and channel that into letting those nerves be good, and it can lead to something big for myself, as well."
 
Something big, indeed. After a respectable opening toss of 169-7 – four-plus feet farther than her 165-3 title-winning throw two years earlier – Drake went 177-9 on her second attempt. That was a personal best by 6 feet, 2 1/2 inches. It ultimately was far enough to give her the silver behind Updike and six inches ahead of friend and teammate Reichert, who captured the bronze.
 
"If you show up and bring your best and someone else was better that day, there's no shame in that," Drake said. "Ali was such an amazing competitor. I walked away really satisfied knowing that I had brought my best."
 
Drake made a habit of bringing her best.
 
After throwing 138-6 in her college debut on March 2, 2013, at the season-opening UPS Quad Meet (which topped her high school long of 129-7), Drake set three more personal bests that year, three more as a sophomore in 2014, and two more during her redshirt junior campaign in 2016, capped by the 177-9 at NCAAs.
 
All of this from an athlete who actually needed some arm-twisting not only to turn out for track in the first place at Sandy High School in Sandy, Oregon, but then to pick up a javelin once she got there.
 
"I was a softball player for many years. My best friend in high school did javelin and she convinced me to come out for track my sophomore year," Drake said. "I knew I didn't want to be a runner. She talked me into trying the javelin."
 
That was in 2010. In her first-ever meet, Drake threw it 94 feet, 2 inches. A month later, she had her first mark of 100-plus (105-4), then just a week after that went 114-2.
 
"I had some natural proclivity for it," she said. "I probably picked it up a little quicker than the average high schooler, but I wasn't a standout by any means – I didn't win a single meet in high school, not even a little dual meet.
 
"But I really enjoyed it and I loved the supportive team dynamic of track and field. I was pretty hooked after that."
 
As she began thinking about college, Drake's focus was on becoming a teacher. A friend of hers had mentioned Western, which has a highly regarded education program, and Drake made the trip to Bellingham in October of her senior year to check it out.
 
"It's hard to beat that campus – it's so gorgeous," she said.
 
Continuing with the javelin wasn't really on her radar until later that fall. Her high school coach asked if she had ever considered possibly walking onto a team. Drake, who at the time was trying to decide between Western and Oregon State, sent an e-mail and filled out a questionnaire to see if that opportunity might be available in Bellingham
 
It was.
 
"She came up and visited and it was during our home invitational, and we chatted with her on the field at Civic Stadium," Stensland said. 'We had one javelin thrower (Reichert), and thought it would probably be good to have another one. After she left, I do remember saying, 'That sounds like a high-character person and a great student.' Those are some of the qualities we value."
 
Drake chose WWU. While she ultimately became a two-time national champion, her first few months as a Viking involved some of the same eye-opening experiences that most freshmen face as they adjust to college-level competition.
 
"I think I really thrived in the structure and discipline of college athletics. But I also had no clue what I was doing," she said with a laugh. "I had spent hardly any time in the weight room before college, so that was all new to me. I was learning new things every day, but I loved the challenge of it. I loved the metric side of things, like being able to look at a weightlifting (personal best) or a throwing test and see that I literally couldn't do that two months ago. I loved the team and the team culture."
 
Added Halsell, "She just wanted to be good, and she was good. Bethany was just driven. She had the right work ethic from the beginning; she worked hard, and she had that guidance from Ben."
 
The one thing Drake didn't love was having to wait so long to actually compete. There's no javelin during the winter indoor season, and she didn't do shot put or weight throw. So while her teammates were competing in January and February 2013, all Drake could do was train.
 
It wasn't until the season's first meet that I felt like, 'I'm really part of this team,' Drake said.
 
MORE THAN EXPECTED
 
Drake got off to a strong start, winning her college debut at the UPS Quad Meet on the first Saturday in March with a mark of 138-6. By the last Saturday in March, she was up to 142-2 and won the Club Northwest Spring Break Open.
 
Four weeks later, she topped 150 for the first time, throwing 157-4 to win the WWU Twilight meet. That was far enough to earn her a spot at the NCAAs, where she placed 13th.
 
Drake's first season exceeded even Stensland's expectations.
 
"In her first two weeks (of practice), I thought, 'She's going to be able to qualify for nationals eventually,'" he said. "But her work ethic is what really stood out, her passion for this, her attention to detail and her desire to always get better. I don't think I really realized that during her first fall quarter. But as we moved into spring, and I think she surprised everyone as a freshman and threw (almost) 158."
 
Drake and Reichert put together their 1-2 NCAA finish in 2014, separated by just one inch (165-3 to 165-2). Drake then took a redshirt year in 2015 due to an injury. She was back at the NCAAs in 2016, along with Reichert, and they went 2-3, with Drake at 177-9 and Reichert at 177-3.
 
But they weren't the only javelin throwers representing WWU that year. A pair of freshmen also made the field: Anosi Laupola placed 12th at 150-9; Mariah Horton was 13th at 147-6.
 
"That felt really special," Drake said. "We all just worked so tirelessly and we loved training. We were always looking for more things to do, and (Coach Stensland) always provided us with the next opportunity, the next way we could get better. That opportunity (all four making the NCAAs) was all of our hard work from the year paying off."
 
THE "BET-TIE STORM"
 
Pick an event on the track & field list, and any given team might have someone – maybe even multiple someones – who are national-caliber in that event.
 
Most of the time, however, even when a team is blessed to have more than one top-flight competitor in any given event, one of them is still a cut above the rest. Consistently just that much better, whether it's a few tenths of a second in the sprints, several seconds in distance races, or a few inches in the field.
 
Unless the event being discussed is the javelin, and the competitors are Bethany Drake and Katie Reichert.
 
Reichert arrived at WWU in 2012 and finished in 2016. Drake was there from 2013 through 2017. Each redshirted one year.
 
That left two seasons – 2014 and 2016 – when they faced each other on the competition runway, 13 times altogether. In those 13 meetings, they finished one place apart in 12 of them. Of those dozen, seven were 1-2 finishes: Drake won four, Reichert won three. They also finished 2-3 four times, with Drake having the edge in three of those.
 
By the time their college careers were complete, their names, along with Monika Gruszecki and numerous others, would be counted among the legends who have come through the WWU program.
 
But during the spring of 2013 when Drake was a freshman and Reichert was redshirting, they were just beginning to get to know each other.
 
That acquaintance rapidly developed into something much more.
 
"She was definitely a huge supporter and mentor to me that first season," Drake said of Reichert. "She was such an incredible teammate – always encouraging me, rooting for me, challenging me even though she wasn't competing."
 
With Reichert returning to competition in 2014, she and Drake set themselves apart as a terrific twosome. They competed together in six meets, with each participating in one meet that the other did not. They finished 1-2 in five of those meets (Drake with three firsts, Reichert with two) and 2-3 in one meet (Reichert finishing ahead).
 
In those six meets, the difference between their final total distances was less than six feet: 964 feet, 9 inches for Drake; 958 feet, 10 inches for Reichert. (Put another way, it was less than two meters: 294.04 for Drake, 292.25 for Reichert).
 
"We were nicknamed the Bet-tie Storm," Drake said (taking the first three letters of her given name and the last three of Reichert's. "We were consistently first and second in most meets – it would alternate. The fact that we were consistently able to do that together was pretty cool."

Reichert added, "Training with one of your biggest competitors and one of your friends every day provided us with a reminder not to let up. I think sometimes if you're the star on your team, it is easier to to ease up a little in the off-season and coast for a minute."
 
"Since we trained together so often, relaxing was nearly impossible. Every time Bethany or I chose to do extra drills in the weight room after a long day of training, it unconsciously reminded us that there was more work to do. We pushed each other more than we realized and it definitely contributed to our success. Now, it's not always easy to have one of your biggest competitors with you every day, but we had more good times because we shared a passion for the sport and a buddy to travel with.
 
"This discipline in our daily training, day after day, is what contributed to the consistent success of those 1-2 finishes. Without each other, we would have just worked hard. It is how we are wired, but together, we almost had a built-in reminder to keep pushing to be even better." 

Sometimes, they stayed within a few feet of each other … until the 2014 NCAAs at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan, just outside of Grand Rapids.
 
On that particular Saturday, Drake was in second place after the three preliminary throws at 161-2 1/2. That was 8 inches short of the top mark of 161-10 1/2.  Reichert's best was 145-7, enough to give her the eighth of the nine spots in the finals and a chance at three more throws.
 
With her first throw in the finals, Drake reached 165-3 – on the metric scale, 50.36, putting her into first place by 3 feet, 4 1/2 inches. Preliminaries leader Mary Riley of Central Missouri, who had that 161-10 1/2 next to her name, improved to 163-0 on her penultimate attempt. No one else came close …
 
… until Reichert took her final throw. It looked good, and then the mark was announced: 165-2 / 50.34 meters.
 
It was a gold-silver finish for Drake and Reichert.
 
"We knew that day that either one of us had the potential (to win it)," Drake said. "Every time, you're trying to hear what the mark is. You want your teammate to do well, but you're also a competitor, so you want to win. I definitely felt the pressure and excitement of going after it for myself. I didn't feel until we were both on the podium how special it was for both of us to be there."
 
Of course, going gold-silver wasn't just because of what they did that day. It was the result of all the days, weeks and months of work leading up to that day.
 
"It's definitely not often that one of your biggest competitors is right next to you every day in the weight room," Reichert said. "That did both of us a huge service, pushing us to be better. Bethany and I were on the same wavelength, spending hours in the weight room, trying to get better, and drilling, and being really focused on every way that we could improve."
 
They also worked with a pair of national-caliber javelin throwers from the men's team: three-time NCAA participant John Haskin and two-time participant Slater Hirst.
 
"That group of four of us shared something special in that all of us were really driven to succeed," Reichert said. "We all had a different way of going about that. But that culture really helped build all of us and helped build all of us and pushed us to reach our highest potential."
 
Drake and Reichert were even roommates for a year and had more than a few adventures together in their kitchen.
 
"We would spend nights trying out different recipes," Reichert recalled. "We did a lot of experimenting. We learned how to cook together, and baking, especially," then added with a laugh, "We never caught the house on fire – just the stove."
 
BEYOND BELLINGHAM
 
While the NCAAs was the final college competition of 2016, many more throws were still to come for Drake and Reichert, who were both heading to the U.S. Olympic Trials, along with Monika Gruszecki.
 
A total of 24 athletes received invitations to Hayward Field. They were divided into two flights of 12, and all three of them competed in the first preliminary flight. Drake's best throw was her third, reaching 170-2. Reichert's best was her first at 169-3. Gruszecki, competing for Club Northwest, went 162-7 on her third and final attempt.
 
Drake finished 14th overall, coming within 15 inches shy of reaching the top-12 finals. Reichert was 16th, and Gruszecki took 22nd.
 
"A lot of times, people get wrapped up in the idea of being a D1 athlete," Drake said. "For us to represent our school and our conference and our division in that way – it just felt powerful to represent something bigger than yourself." (The field of 24 had five competitors with D2 backgrounds; Azusa Pacific's Allison Updike and Channing Wilson of Cal State Stanislaus also competed.)
 
Gruszecki originally had taken aim at the 2012 Trials, having connected with Duncan Atwood, a highly respected and successful javelin coach known for his technical expertise who has worked with athletes from numerous area schools. But even at that point, Gruszecki had to be convinced to keep throwing.
 
"It was not my original idea to continue. Duncan lives about four miles away from my family home (in Edmonds) and he said, 'You can throw. Future Olympic Trials are coming up.' That was the first time that concept even crossed my mind," Gruszecki said. "He provided my father with some film of me throwing and said, 'She's got what it takes.'  I thought maybe it would be fun to try out, so that's when I started throwing after college."
 
Gruszecki gradually increased her distance – 10 to 15 feet. Then a few months before the Trials, she tore the ligament in her throwing elbow.
 
"I'd been throwing throws that I'd never seen come out of my arm before," she said. "It was astonishing. Then it gets taken from you before you even get a mark.
 
"At that point, it became a mission."
 
Gruszecki underwent Tommy John surgery to repair the ligament. In 2013, she was practicing again, but not yet competing. During one of those practices, she heard something crack in her elbow while in the middle of a throw. She had just broken the same right elbow. She had surgery the following day and in fact still has a titanium plate that the surgeons attached to the elbow.
 
All of that slowed her, but didn't stop her. Balancing law school at Gonzaga University and throwing, Gruszecki ultimately found her way to Eugene for the 2016 Trials.
 
"Studies and throwing kept me balanced throughout school in 2016," she said. "By the time I got to the Trials, I was pretty exhausted. I finished law school and had the bar exam (coming up).
 
"I was excited to be there,' she added. "At the end of the day, I had proven to myself what I needed to. But that hunger was satisfied."
 
For Reichert, competing in the Trials was one thing. Competing with Gruszecki and Drake was, as she put it, 'kind of surreal."
 
"It was a really cool experience showcasing that track and field is wonderful because you don't have to be in a specific (NCAA) division to be successful or to compete at a high level," she said. "It was really cool not only to represent that division (D2) but to have three people from Western."
 
From Drake's perspective, the Trials had a full-circle feel.
 
"Growing up in Oregon, I had competed at Hayward since I was a sophomore in high school. And we always went to the Oregon Relays (while at Western). It was kind of funny for a venue like that to feel like home turf and feel like being on the world stage at the same time."
 
BEYOND THE JAVELIN
 
Gruszecki, Reichert and Drake all knew they'd eventually take that last competitive throw and that life beyond the javelin runway would begin in earnest.
 
In Gruszecki's case, her journey was already underway as she prepared for the 2016 Olympic Trials. She had already earned her degrees in English literature and German from Western, along with certification in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. In 2016, she graduated cum laude from Gonzaga Law School, having served as an editor on the Gonzaga Law Review.
 
"I never thought about going to law school. It was the suggestion of my stepfather," said Gruszecki, nearing her 38th birthday in December. "He said, 'You'd be a great lawyer – you're so articulate.' Once I started sinking my teeth into it, it was so practical and so logical. He said my brain was suited for it (law)."
 
She later went on to work as a postgraduate intern in enforcement at the NCAA national office. From 2018-21, she was the director of compliance at the University of Arizona. Since November 2024, she has been an administrative law judge with the Washington State Office of Administrative Hearings. Gruszecki specializes in caseloads that deal with social services, including child support, food assistance hearings, and Medicare hearings, among others.
 
"These are core things in their lives. I feel very much relevant. It's very rewarding," she said. "I will say that working in college (athletics) gave me the experience I needed to be a judge. Being able to respond to people's emotions the way I had to respond to people's emotions in college sports is the best training I could have to respond to their emotions when they're asked about their career and children."
 
Reichert, now 32, got married in June to former WWU triple jumper Mark Seely (Class of 2017). They live in Torrance, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. She works in graphic design and coaches all of the throws at Occidental College, an NCAA Division III school.
 
"I'll hop into practice every now and then," she said. "They always sign me up for our home meet. The last two years, the kids have convinced me to throw on a whim."
 
As Reichert tells it, her athletes didn't have to twist her arm too hard.
 
"It's a lot more relaxed than the last time I was competing," she said. "It still feels fun though. It's cool to have the opportunity."
 
Drake (now Skau) earned her undergraduate degree in art and her master's in teaching. She taught high school art for five years at Bellevue Christian School and currently lives in Bend, Oregon, where she is a middle school art teacher and mom to an 18-month-old daughter Serena. She practices what she teaches, enjoying both drawing and painting, and has developed visual arts curriculum for grades 7-12.
 
After winning the 2017 NCAA title, Drake continued to train (sometimes going to Tucson to work with Gruszecki) and was pointing toward the 2020 Olympic Trials. Then the coronavirus pandemic hit, and things shut down, inside and outside the sports world.
 
"One meet got canceled, then the next and then the next," she said. "I had planned on 2020 being my last year. I was at a point training at that level where every decision has to be oriented toward that. I was ready to start pursuing other points in my life."
 
Now 32, Drake also started exploring other types of physical activities. Among those was doing this past summer's Hood to Coast Relay, an iconic event that covers 196 miles from the top of Mount Hood to the Pacific Coast with teams of eight to 12 runners dividing the total distances into three legs each.
 
"I said I would never be a runner, and here I am," Drake said with a laugh. "I've been doing a lot more distance running. And I've been doing bouldering and rock climbing."
 
While they have gone in distinctly different directions, the lives of Monika Gruszecki, Bethany Drake and Katie Reichert are inextricably bound together by a spear that weighs a little more than a pound, is 7-1/2 feet long (give or take a couple inches) and opened up all kinds of doors, both on and off the runway.
 
"Personally and professionally, you don't know what you don't know. So before you judge something, see what's possible," Gruszecki said. "For the most part, I think that's a lovely gift that I got in my 20s of how not to restrict myself. I've been blessed to have a wonderful career that I never thought I would have and go for an adventure that I had never seen for myself."