Andin Fosam came late to the party, but ever since she entered the room, heads have turned and whispers have swept through the crowd.
“Wow, who is that?” is the usual refrain.
In just her second season of throwing the shot put and discus for Robbinsville High, the senior has already established herself as one of the Colonial Valley Conference’s best in those events.
It came as a surprise to Ravens throws coach Andrew Patterson, who has taught for several years at Robbinsville but began coaching there this year after serving as a coach at The College of New Jersey.
“I knew who she was because I had her in my class as a freshman,” Patterson said. “When I saw her, I legitimately thought she had been doing this the whole time in high school. I was shocked when she said she started last year.”
Fosam showed up at winter practice in December 2012, and wasted little time making an impact. She finished fourth in the shot put at the Mercer County Championships with a throw of 32-10; finished fourth in Central Jersey Group II at 32-8 and had her best throw of the winter at 33-6.75 in finishing 13th at the Group II meet.
Upon moving outdoors in the spring, Fosam was third in the shot (33-10) at the counties and, in her first season of throwing discus, also took third in Mercer in 102-1.
At the CJ II sectionals, she finished third in the discus in 101-9, but had a tough time in the shot in poor weather the previous day.
“That was like the worst day of my life,” Fosam said. “The weather was horrible, and my hands were frozen and numb, I couldn’t throw at all.”
Unfortunately, she could not compete in the discus at the Group II state meet due to SATs. But it was obvious that the Ravens had themselves a quality thrower coming back this year.
In the indoor county meet, Fosam took second in shot (38-2.50), and was second at CJ II with a 39-9.75. Fosam qualified for her first Meet of Champions by taking second at the Group II meet in 39-3.50, and took a seventh-place medal at the MOC with a personal best throw of 39-10.25.
“That was awesome,” she said. “I honestly didn’t even expect to get into the finals, I was just going to throw because I knew it was against the best throwers in the state, and I wanted to see how I could do against them.”
Fosam also qualified for the New Balance Indoor Nationals in the Emerging Elite division, but said she struggled there and finished 21st with a 36-4.75.
She is up to her old tricks this spring, as Fosam and Kristen Kowalski combined to win the shot put and discus at the Mercer County Relays on April 12. Fosam’s shot put throw of 39-7.25 was third among all throwers, and her discus heave of 95-10 was second (Kowalski was third at 93-11).
Fosam is looking for big things at this year’s Mercer County Meet, as well as the states, and so are her coaches.
“She has been great for the team,” Ravens girls head coach Mike Walker said. “She is one of our captains and has come a long way since trying out for track and field last winter. She is an awesome kid and the team is lucky to have her. In just one year of throwing, she has developed into one of the best in the state, and Patterson is the coach behind all of that success.”
Patterson, however, says otherwise.
“I more or less supervise her and give her pointers,” he said. “She’s a natural. I’m looking forward to seeing what she will do in the county and state meets this year.
“She’s one of those people, if she sees it done correctly after one time, she knows how to do it. She has a cerebral intelligence. She’s a mentally gifted athlete, you wish they would make them all like her.
“When I first saw her, she had the form down. We just talk a little bit, if she’s a little slow or off balance on a release, we make a little correction, and boom! She fixes it. She makes it very easy to coach. She makes you look good.”
Fosam took an interesting path to her current success. Both of Fosam’s parents hail from West Africa. Her dad is from Cameroon and her mom is from Nigeria, and she figures her first name came from one of those two countries.
She was born in England, and lived in London for six years before the family moved to Robbinsville. For several years, her athletic world consisted of competitive cheerleading. She decided to forego that during her junior year in order to focus on school work in an important SAT year.
“But I still wanted to stay in shape, so I wanted to go out for track and I wanted to sprint; I didn’t know anything about throwing,” Fosam said. “In February, before the season started I sprained my ankle and got tendinitis. Every time I ran, my ankle would swell up the size of a baseball, so my running career ended as soon as it started.”
Ravens boys’ coach Jon Hutchinson knew that Fosam had been lifting and proposed that she try to the throws despite having a smaller frame than most throwers have. Her first attempts at shot in indoors were around 28 feet.
“I didn’t really know what to feel about that,” she said with a laugh.
She quickly picked it up, and then began discus in the spring. That was a little tougher to figure out, as the disc would leave her hand and slam straight into the ground.
“Discus frustrated me so much,” she said. “I couldn’t roll it off my fingers for the first week. One day, we were doing these drills standing flat-footed, then doing the regular spins, and all of a sudden I threw it 70 feet. One throw just clicked when we were doing the standing drills.”
From there it has been all uphill. She set a new personal best in the discus at 121 feet during a dual meet this year, but is still frustrated by the 40-foot mark in shot.
“My number one goal this spring is to get over 40, it’s haunting me,” she said with a laugh. “My other goal is to get to the nationals, because I went to nationals in winter, and it was not my best effort.”
Patterson is certain it will come.
“That 40-foot ceiling can easily be broken once we get some consistent warm weather, and I easily see the high 120s and 130s in the discus,” he said. “She should be one of top competitors in that upper echelon of athletes in states and counties. She went head to head with the girls in the counties at the relays and was right there with the best.”
Fosam’s late start in track has not deterred her from trying to continue in college. She is heading to the University of Pittsburgh next year and has already talked with the coach about walking on to the team.
“I sent my video, and he seemed very excited,” she said. “Hopefully, I’m a good fit for the team.”
One thing is certain: track and field has gotten into Fosam’s blood.
“Oh yeah,” she said. “It’s all I think about now.”
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