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Dinges medals with borrowed javelin

BRETT R. CROSSLEY/For The Sun-Gazette Montoursville’s Josh Dinges throws the javelin during Friday’s PIAA Track and Field Championships. Dinges placed third with a throw of 191-6.

SHIPPENSBURG — Jason McComsey isn’t in the business of lending out the javelins he has on display at his merchandise tent at the PIAA Track and Field Championships.

But when Montoursville’s Josh Dinges and throwing coach Eli Skinner approached him Friday after they had their own javelin disqualified by PIAA officials, McComsey did what he could to help. Dinges and Skinner initially asked him if he could re-grip Dinges’ javelin, but with less than an hour before Dinges was set to compete in the Class AA event, there wasn’t enough time for the glue to set.

With Dinges and Skinner in a panic, McComsey pulled two javelins from his display and let the two figure out which one was closest to the one Dinges normally throws. The green-tipped spear which Dinges had never thrown before flew more than 190-feet out of his right hand Friday morning.

On a wild day where Dinges was nearly kept from competing in the state meet twice, he threw his borrowed javelin 191 feet, 6 inches, good enough for a third-place finish and his first state medal.

“Shout out to Red Beard,” Dinges said, “because he saved my butt.”

Red Beard is McComsey, a Lancaster native who looks like a long-lost member of ZZ Top and is in the business of rebuilding used javelins and giving them custom paint jobs for customers. Dinges and Skinner approached him after PIAA officials deemed the grip on Dinges’ javelin was too short. One official even accused Dinges of intentionally cutting down the length of the grip.

Coincidentally, it was the exact same javelin Dinges used in his first trip to the state meet a year ago. But an hour before the final track and field competition of his high school career, Dinges didn’t have a javelin to throw.

Enter McComsey, who doesn’t usually loan out javelins for competitors to use. But he could sense some panic from Dinges and Skinner.

“They were kind of in a bind. So we tried to help them out,” said McComsey, who is the owner and painter at Red Beard Rebuilding. “I love seeing guys have success with my javelins. I can pick my stuff out pretty quick in the air because mine are pretty unique with their colors.”

Although the javelins McComsey gave to Skinner and Dinges to try were different brands and different ratings than the one Dinges usually uses, but they picked one out which they thought was closest to the one he uses. And on his first throw of the competition, Dinges threw out of the sector by just a couple inches on a throw which would have been in the high 190s.

His second throw is where he hit his money throw. That toss of 191-6 had him sitting in second place until the final round of throws in the competition when Hopewell’s Noah Drudy popped one 215 feet to finish second. Richland’s Ethan Dabbs took gold with a best throw of 217-6.

“With everything I’ve been through, this means a lot to me,” Dinges said. “I put so much into this because I want to be good at something. I want to be out there competing and I want to be good at it. It’s fun beating people. I love beating people.”

When Dinges finally did settle upon a javelin he could throw, as he prepared to warm-up, an official told him he wasn’t going to be allowed to throw because of the shorts he was wearing. The spandex shorts had an inch-wide elastic waistband with the words “Nike Pro” printed on it.

By rule, that wording is not allowed on a competitor’s uniform, Dinges was told. He explained to the official it would be covered up when he pulled his jersey down, but the official said when he threw, his shirt would lift up exposing the writing.

So while the other throwers worked on their approach and stretched, Dinges ran to the track area at Shippensburg’s Seth Grove Stadium and borrowed a pair of mesh gym shorts from teammate William DeWald who was preparing to compete in the 110 hurdles preliminaries, and wore those throughout the competition.

Dinges said he got in one practice throw with a three-step approach before officials started the competition.

“Between the javelin and the shorts, it felt like they were going out of their way to make things difficult,” Dinges said. “I came to states last year and they didn’t say a thing about my javelin. Then I went all season wearing these tights and nobody said a thing. And now I get here I can’t wear them? Come on.”

The third-place finish followed two weeks where Dinges finished second at both the Pennsylvania Heartland Athletic Conference meet and the District 4 meet. But Dinges assured Skinner he was merely waiting for the right time to bust out a big throw.

Friday was Dinges’ first 190-foot throw since April 28 when he hit 190-6 to win Lock Haven High School Classic.

“Honestly, it seems like whenever I’m not ready for anything is when I do my best,” Dinges said. “Skinner has brought me such a long way and he knew exactly what I was doing wrong. We drilled it the whole last week and a half so I could get it in my memory. Sometimes I can overthink things, but those first three throws, I wasn’t thinking and I hit it perfectly and got my medal.”

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