By Eric Trent / [email protected]

Ranked in the top 5 nationally in two throwing events, Jeremiah Nubbe, the senior athlete in senior track and field, could have attended almost any university in the country. After narrowing his choices to two schools, Nubbe verbally committed to the University of Texas.

Nubbe jumped onto the high school stage in 2019 when he won the 2B state record title as a freshman. He broke the state junior discus record in April 2021 with a throw of 196 feet.

He is currently the fifth high school hammer and discus thrower in the country. His personal bests of 200-foot-2 discus and 224-foot 8.5-inch hammer were both set in July while competing at the Outdoor Nationals presented by Nike.

The 6-foot-3 Nubbe last made headlines in July when he was named the 2020-21 Gatorade Washington Boys Track and Field Player of the Year – the first athlete from Rainier High School to win the award for best track and field athlete. in the state.

By September, just as his final year of school began, he had narrowed down his choices at Stanford or the University of Texas. He visited both schools in mid-September for official tours and left in awe of UT’s Austin campus.

The campus has a cafeteria especially for athletes, with free and unlimited meals, and it is located two floors above the weight room. The track team has its own weight room, unlike Stanford, where athletes all have to share a weight room. The University of Texas also has one of the best throwing facilities in the country and hosts the Division I track and field championships in 2023.

Just two weeks after his visits to California and Texas, Nubbe had made his final decision and made a verbal commitment to the Longhorns on October 1.

“The initial visit and the entire Stanford application process was not exactly what I had hoped for, so the University of Texas seemed like the best fit,” Nubbe said. “I like the state of mind and the frankness of the Texas coach. I connected really well with it and enjoyed it.

Another important factor was that he had a good relationship with the track athletes and Longhorns coaches he had met.

He assists Longhorns throwing coach Zeb Sion, who is also the personal throwing trainer of Olympic gold medalist Valarie Allman, who won discus gold at the Tokyo Olympics in August. Nubbe met Sion during the official visit.

“Looking at what Sion had to offer, his expertise and the overall success he has had in the past I obviously want to be successful, his training has been a big factor,” said Nubbe.

Nubbe’s decision wasn’t made solely on the athletic side. He plans to major in aerospace engineering, and it makes sense to be in Austin, where Tesla is moving its headquarters. There’s also NASA’s Space Center in Houston a few hours east.

“(UT) has a great engineering program; top 10 in the country, ”Nubbe said. “It doesn’t have the Stanford name but it’s a better overall choice. With Tesla, which has just fallen, internship opportunities are much more abundant. “

Before all this, Nubbe has his last year to finish at Rainier. He only participates in athletics, which begins on February 28, 2022 and ends with the state in late May. Without a state tournament in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID, he hopes to add more than one record title to his prep career before breaking new ground in Longhorn State.