University of Georgia Athletics
Comenentia Chasing Indoor Crowns
March 07, 2019 | Track & Field, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
Denzel Comenentia is not going to miss the weight throw, the indoor version of the hammer throw. It is mostly a North American event, one that the Georgia track and field senior from Amsterdam had never done before he became a Bulldog.
"It definitely makes the things you do bad in the hammer even worse in the weight, so ... the weight kind of punishes me every time," Comenentia said, shaking his head.
The powerful, 6-foot-2 Comenentia finally gets to wave good-bye to the weight this weekend during the NCAA Indoor Championships in Birmingham, Ala. It's his final indoor meet for Georgia, final time slinging that 35-pound implement around in the circle.
"Yes, and I'm happy about that," he said, laughing. He added that since the weight throw is not an Olympic event and track and field's governing body, the IAAF, doesn't recognize the event, it's not something throwers outside of college do often. Comenentia, in fact, owns the Dutch national record in the weight throw with his career-best of 77 feet, 9.5 inches.
It may not be his favorite or best event, but don't think for a second that Comenentia doesn't want to go out with a national championship in the weight throw. He finished sixth at the NCAA Indoors last year, earning All-America honors, and comes into the event this year ranked No. 3 in the country.
"I'll be excited to be done with the weight, but I hope to put one last good performance in. I feel like I have more in me than what I've shown here," he said Tuesday.
That echoed the words the day before from longtime Georgia throws coach Don Babbitt: "I still think there's more there."
In a brilliant Georgia career, including last month's SEC Indoor title in the shot put for his seventh career conference crown, taking home an NCAA Indoors national title is pretty much the only thing Comenentia hasn't accomplished. Last June, at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, the shot put and hammer thrower did more than just earn more All-America honors. It was, in his words, "a week full of great events."
Comenentia won, on the same day, in fact, national championships in the shot put and hammer throw — a feat only one other person had accomplished in nearly 100 years. By meet's end, the soft-spoken team captain had led the Bulldogs to the program's first men's NCAA team championship, and with his two NCAA crowns, he'd scored more points than anyone else in the meet.
"To finally come in first place on a big stage was really special for me. And to win both of my events was even more amazing, I couldn't believe it myself," he said. "Those things you dream about, when they actually come true, you're like, 'Man, it came true!'
"That was pretty special for me, and to win the team championship for the first time in the history of UGA track and field, it was a week full of great events. It will be a lifelong memory, what I achieved."
Along with chasing an NCAA Indoors title in the weight throw, Comenentia is hoping to add an Indoor shot put national championship to his long list of accomplishments (the shot put is Friday and the weight throw Saturday). The Bulldog is currently ranked No. 3 in the country in the shot put — North Dakota State's Payton Otterdahl is ranked first in the shot put and weight throw — and, frankly, Comenentia is due.
How due? After finishing eighth in the shot put at the NCAA Indoors, Comenentia has been the runner-up the past two years.
"The whole focus of this indoor season has been nationals," Babbitt said, "so, really, we'll probably end up rating the season based on how he does at nationals. So far, so good."
That pretty much sums up Comenentia's Georgia career: so far, so good. He wants to finish the indoor season strong and then try to defend his NCAA Outdoor titles. The Dutchman prefers throwing outdoors, particularly in warmer conditions, Babbitt said.
"If you chart Denzel's progress, freshman year he threw a little bit better outdoors than indoors. Sophomore year, he threw a foot-and-half better outdoors than indoors; last year, he threw a foot-and-a-half further outdoors than indoors," Babbitt said.
Comenentia has already reached the qualifying A standard for this September's World Championships in Qatar, so his professional future is right around the corner. And the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo not too far away, either.
"As a kid you dream about going to the Olympics," Comenentia said. "It actually is finally getting close now and I'm looking forward to it. To just call myself an Olympian would be amazing, for all the hard work I've put in and the people that have supported me, I would be really proud to be on that stage."
His coach, who knows a thing or two about it, thinks he could be on that stage for a while.
"He's a guy I see competing in three or four Olympic Games," said Babbitt, who has coached multiple Olympians, including former Georgia great Reese Hoffa (bronze medal in 2012) and Adam Nelson (gold in 2004, silver in 2000).
But all of that is a little ways off — right now there is Comenentia's pursuit of more NCAA hardware and a fond farewell to the weight throw.
John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He's also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.
