Anthony Washington and Brian Blutreich had nothing and everything in common. They were USA teammates, discus throwers at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Their paths to the world’s biggest stage were thoroughly different.
Washington was born in Montana and became an All-American at Syracuse. Blutreich was a California kid, an All-American at UCLA.
Then they lost touch. “There was a gap,” Blutreich says now. “I didn’t even know if Anthony had kids.”
Blutreich went on to coach shot putters and discus throwers at Oklahoma, North Carolina and now Arizona State. Washington went on to the 1996 and 2000 Olympics, moved to Tucson and married the sister of Arizona All-Pac-10 lineman Warner Smith.
Canyon Del Oro graduate Turner Washington broke the NCAA record in shot put on Feb. 13 while competing for ASU. Washington was at Arizona for one year then transferred to ASU in 2018. Video producer by the Star's Alec White.
About the time Washington’s son, Turner, became something of a national phenomenon as a discus thrower at Canyon del Oro High School, Blutreich saw a video of his old friend’s son breaking school and state records.
Blutreich asked his wife, former USA Olympic javelin thrower Lynda Lipson, if the video seemed like it was “in fast motion.” Was this 15-year-old discus thrower really that good?
“Oh my god,” Blutreich said Tuesday. He was that good. The son of his Olympic teammate was the nation’s No. 1 prospect.
“I made a home visit to Turner in Tucson, but the UA beat us out,” Blutreich remembers. “But that’s OK, in the end; he’s here now.”
Turner Washington sat down for a Zoom interview Tuesday wearing a white Adidas shirt with a gold Sun Devil pitchfork across the heart.
Last Saturday at the Texas Tech Shootout, Washington broke the NCAA record in the indoor shot put at 71 feet, 8 ¼ inches. It was the first time in his life he had thrown the shot 70 feet.
After the record was confirmed, Blutreich phoned his old friend in Tucson, and told Anthony Washington his son had thrown the shot put farther than anyone in indoor college track and field history.
Turner Washington transferred to Arizona State after beginning his college career at the UA.
“My dad likes to remind me how I didn’t like to throw the shot put,” Washington said with a chuckle. “He made me.”
The switch from discus to NCAA record holder in the shot put is an even more unexpected development than Turner’s transfer from Arizona to ASU.
“I was in shock for a little while,” Washington said. “I wasn’t sure it was a national record until (Blutreich) told me. It was like, ‘Dang, this is wild.’
“I still think of myself as a discus thrower, but I just haven’t had the opportunity since I left the UA.”
Turner Washington left CDO in the spring of 2017 as a state and national champion.
He threw the discus further than all but three athletes in high school sports history. He arrived at the UA in the Class of 2017 with Pennsylvania’s shot put/discus All-American Jordan Geist, who was, as Turner, the equivalent of a five-star recruit with Olympic possibilities.
At the 2018 Pac-12 championships, Geist won the shot put and discus. Washington was fourth in the discus. Two weeks later at the NCAA finals, Geist was 12th, Washington 19th. Washington did not compete in the shot put.
Things change. Now Washington’s got the longest throw in NCAA indoor track history. It didn’t go unnoticed that Geist finished third at Texas Tech, five feet behind Washington.
And although Washington has chosen not to go into the details of why he left Arizona, it’s clear that his father’s connections to — and faith in — Blutreich have paid off.
Turner Washington practices throwing the discus at Canyon del Oro High School in 2016.
Before the Texas Tech competition, Blutreich said he told a few coaches that Washington’s emergence in the shot put wasn’t surprising. “I know he has it in him,” he said.
Even though he began to make a name for himself in 2015, this is essentially just the beginning for Washington. His father was 30 when he finished fourth in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, and 34 when he made the 2000 Sydney Olympics team, finishing 12th.
Turner Washington’s goals are to win the NCAA Indoor and NCAA Outdoor championships and try to qualify for this summer’s Olympic trials. Time is on his side.
“I’m just going to keep my foot on the gas pedal,” he said. “Records get broken all the time but national championships are forever.”
The sub-plot — Washington vs. Geist — is sure to take the UA-ASU track and field rivalry to another level, if that’s possible.
A year after Washington transferred to ASU, Blutreich’s top women’s shot put/discus performer, two-time NCAA shot put champion Samantha Noennig, transferred to Arizona.
It would be like Remy Martin transferring to Arizona’s basketball team a few days after Azoulas Tubelis transferred to ASU.
At the Texas Tech meet, Noennig, the 2019 NCAA champion in the indoor and outdoor shot put, set an Arizona record with a throw of 59-10 ½. The Wildcats set three other school records during the weekend: Israel Oloyede in the weight throw; Shannon Meisberger in the women’s 600-yard race and Tanner Hagstrom in the men’s 600-yard run. Both teams appear to be of national significance.
Washington, Geist and Noennig will be reunited March 11-13 at the NCAA Indoor championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas. An intriguing stage has been set for what should be a must-watch showdown.
