Predicting this season's finish is nothing more than a guessing game.  Three top throwers return with personal bests over 22.50 meters, and all three sit within a foot of each other.  Defending champion Jason Lewis (Arizona State), runner-up Steffen Nerdal (Memphis), and former high school record holder Walter Henning (LSU) will likely compete neck-and-neck throughout the season to be the nation's best.  Add to the mix NCAA outdoor champion Marcel Lomnicky (Viriginia Tech), and it should be a fun year.  No one has established themselves as the clear front runner yet, so we will have to wait and see.  Unfortunately, we will have to wait until next year to see high school record holder Conor McCullough's (Princeton) debut since he plans to redshirt this season.

Be sure to also read our other season previews: Division I women, Division II men, Division II women, Division III men, and Division III women.

Steffen Nerdal, Senior, Memphis - Personal Best: 22.54m, 2009 NCAA Finish: 2nd, 2010 Season Best: 22.41m

In following Steffen over the past year, he has impressed me with his improvement.  The 6'7" Norwegian is the prototypical weight thrower, and he proved that at last year's NCAA Championships when he threw a one-meter personal best to place second.  Nerdal proved that was no fluke during the outdoor season when he improved to over 70 meters while redshirting.  Nerdal is a competitor and I expect him to bring it at the NCAA Championships this year, just as he has at his last two NCAA Championships (he threw a PR at the 2008 outdoor championships too).  In December, he showed everyone he is the man to beat right now with a near personal best during his first meet (read our interview here).

Walter Henning, Sophomore, LSU - Personal Best: 22.69m, 2009 NCAA Finish: 4th, 2008 NCAA Finish: 3rd

Henning was the most consistent returning thrower.  He surpassed 22m in all six of his competitions last year, averaging a result of 22.28m and winning every meet except the NCAA championships.  After recovering from a small injury in the early outdoor season, he was again just as consistent outdoors.  While consistency is great, what Henning needed last year was a good peak to finish the season.  Without it he placed just 4th indoors and 2nd outdoors.  If Henning peaks well, he should win this year.

Jason Lewis, Senior, Arizona State - Personal Best: 22.88m, 2009 NCAA Finish: 1st, 2008 NCAA Finish: 15th

Like Nerdal, Lewis threw a big one-meter personal best at the NCAA indoor championships.  Unlike Nerdal, he won.  Unlike his disappointing finish at the 2008 NCAA Championships, Lewis finished the season strong last year and also had great success outdoors, where he placed 6th in the hammer.  After watching him throw in person, his big PR was no surprise.  He is big and strong and when he hits his finish, the throw just sails.  The test for him this year will be to show he can improve his technique and consistently break 22m, just as Nerdal showed us with his big opener.  If he does that, there is no reason why Lewis can't beat Nerdal and Henning once again.

Marcel Lomnicky, Sophomore, Virginia Tech - Personal Best: 20.90m, 2009 NCAA Finish: 8th

Even though he was 21 years old last season, it was Lomnicky's first year throwing the weight.  He had only three meets, but still placed 8th indoors and then hit his stride outdoors by winning the NCAA title in June.  I am confident that Lomnicky will throw further this year now that he has had a full Fall training in America and has likely adjusted more to the weight throw.  He will likely be the fourth thrower over 22m this years.

Mike Zajac, Junior, South Carolina - Personal Best: 20.86m, 2009 NCAA Finish: 9th
Zajac's personal best isn't as far as some of the others on the list, but he makes up with that in consistency.  At his last four meets of season last year were all within six inches of each other.  While ranked down the list entering the NCAA Championships, his consistency moved him up to 9th and earned him All-American honors.

Matej Muza, Senior, Virginia Tech - Personal Best:  21.16m (2008), 2009 NCAA Finish: Did Not Qualify, 2009 Season Best: 20.39m

Something was off for Muza last year.  After a stellar 2008 campaign in which he threw a personal best at the NCAA outdoor championships, he never hit his stride in 2009.  During the indoor season he was nearly a meter off of his personal best and outdoors he was over five meters under his best.  Having gone through a year like that myself last year, I hope he (and I) finds his form again.

Leif Arrhenius, Senior, BYU - Personal Best: 20.97m (2005),  2009 NCAA Finish: 11th, 2009 Season Best: 20.89m, 2010 Season Best: 20.00m

Arrhenius held the national record in the weight throw and nearly threw 21m as a true freshman.  However, since picking up the weight again last season, he has been unable to break that barrier.  Many of his meet last year were in the mid 20-meter range.  He is capable of bigger throws.  The question is whether or not this will be the year where he finds them.

Sean Pruitt, Senior, Michigan - Personal Best: 21.13m, 2009 NCAA Finish: 14th

Pruitt made incredible progress last season, increasing his personal best by a meter and a half.  However, he was not able to gain consistency over 21m and  he threw around 20m in most of his competitions.  At the NCAA Championships he managed just 19.64m.  Pruitt will need to be able to consistently throw far in order to become an All-American this season.

Wildcard Thrower:

Conor McCullough, Freshman, Princeton

As mentioned above, McCullough plans on redshirting so that he can focus on this July's IAAF World Junior Championships in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada.  The only reason I include him on this list is because if for some reason he does not redshirt this year, he will immediately become a frontrunner for the national title.  Here is some food for thought: Walter Henning threw 26.35m with the high school weight and then was able to throw 22.02m as a true freshman.  McCullough threw the high school weight 28.43m, smashing Henning's high school record.  Perhaps McCullough will have a 23 or 24 meter throw in him if he picks up the weight this year.

Others to watch...

Curtis Durocher, Senior, Northern Arizona - Personal Best:  20.58m, 2009 NCAA Finish: Did Not Qualify

K.P. Singh, Junior, Oklahoma - Personal Best:  20.49m, 2009 NCAA Finish: Did Not Qualify

Aaron Studt, Senior, Minnesota - Personal Best:  20.40m, 2009 NCAA Finish: Did Not Qualify, 2010 Season Best: 19.72m

Dimitrios Fylladitakis, Junior, UTEP - Personal Best:  20.28m, 2009 NCAA Finish: Did Not Qualify

John Freeman, Senior, Georgia - Personal Best: 20.23m, 2009 NCAA Finish: Did Not Qualify

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