Photo By Robert Whetstone | U.S. Army Sgt. David Crook, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, hurls his discus toward the...... read more read more
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By Robert A. Whetstone
Brooke Army Medical Center Public Affairs
CHICAGO - - If you were not at Soldier Field on July 5, you were in the wrong place and missed something special. U.S. Army Sgt. David Crook, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, strapped himself down in the seated discus competition of the Department of Defense Warrior Games, and made a throw that should have been on ESPN’s top ten best videos.
There were many memorable throws during the field competition that fueled athletes to push and punish their bodies beyond what normal athletes would do. “I was hurting, but I kept throwing,” said U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Robert Roberts III, Warrior Transition Unit, Fort Carson, Colo. “I got injured on my fourth shot put.” Team Army Field coach Adriane Wilson and Roberts’ wife kept looking at him because they knew he was hurt. “That’s when I knew I better stop,” said Roberts.
Several of the discus throws were clanging off the sideline walls in the stadium, causing the crowd to moan with delight. Seated throwers were near the middle of the Soldier Field turf tossing their discus toward the sideline. It is 33.6 meters to the sideline wall. “I saw a Navy athlete hit 29.33 (meters), so that was my target,” said Crook. “I can’t let Navy win!”
Crook wound up and slung a toss that will be remembered for years to come. Others hit the sideline wall, but Crook disrespected his discus and jammed it into the third row of the Soldier Field seats. The stadium was pumped, and so was Crook. “I told my wife not to sit in the first three rows,” said Crook. “I didn’t want to hit anyone. It’s like a 2 kilogram (4.4 pound) Frisbee”
Soldier Field will never be the same again; at least not until the ground crew comes out to repair the shot put divots in the grass and pieces of concrete several discus’ plowed out of the sideline walls.
One moment that will definitely be remembered about this Warrior Games will be the day Sgt. Crook threw his discus into the cheap seats.
| Date Taken: | 07.06.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 07.06.2017 18:39 |
| Story ID: | 240327 |
| Location: | CHICAGO, IL, US |
| Web Views: | 55 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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