The "heavies" love throwing and lifting
The "heavies" love throwing and lifting
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"We all have jobs," said Sorin, a former hammer thrower for USC. "But my love is throwing and lifting things, and this is what I like to do in my spare time. I would have come over here whether I got paid or not to compete against some of the best in the country."
Sorin won the heavy stone competition (basically, the shot put, but with a 20- pound ball instead of the 12- or 16- pound ones used in high school and college), and placed third in three more of the seven- event "septathlon" for heavyweights.
The 6'3", 230- pound Sorin was a four- time All- American hammer thrower for USC and fell short at two Olympic trials (2000 and 2004) before giving that up and turning to the ancient Scottish version of throwing competition.
The 31- year- old competed as a pro for the first time at the Charleston Scottish Games last September.
He went out on top as an amateur by winning the world championship at Shakopee, Minn., last August, only weeks after he led the five- man American team to victory in the annual USA- Scotland Challenge in Newtonmore, Scotland.
This year Sorin has competed in four games, winning the Spring Highland Festival in Edinboro, Pa., and placing third in competitions at Huntersville, N.C. and Monterey, Cal.
Sorin came by his love for "the iron game" honestly. His father Richard was a discus thrower for the Gamecocks in the 1970s, and when he graduated he opened the Sorinex Exercise Equipment company in Irmo.
The younger Sorin has the best of both worlds. He works in the family business selling professional- grade weight training equipment and has the perfect excuse to train.
"He loves it," said his father. "Usually when we close up about 6 pm, he goes out back and throws until dark. He takes his training very seriously.
"And the notoriety he gains by competing helps the business. The people who are serious about weight training see how successful he is as a competitor, and they have to think that it goes back to his weight training."
"Scottish games are 100 per cent throwing, but you have to be strong to throw and to be strong you have to lift, so it works well for me," Sorin said.
Third place at Grandfather wasn't what Sorin wanted, but considering the competition, it was not bad. Winner Eric Frasure from Charlotte is ranked No. 4 among Scottish athletes nationwide and second- place finisher Kerry Overfelt (Bardstown, Ky.) is fifth. In fact, six of the seven competitors last weekend are in the top 20. Sorin is ninth, and the seventh is 21st.
First or last, Sorin said, he'd be there.
"You've just got to love it. Some people love to golf, some to fish. I love to fish also, but once this gets into your blood, anything you pick up, you think, 'how far can I throw this?'
"Once it's in your blood, it's just in there. You can't get rid of it."
