Photo Credits:
Bergen Catholic junior Ben Shue, one of the top throwers in New Jersey, announced his commitment to the University of Texas on Wednesday.
“It’s every little kid’s dream to compete at the highest level in their sport,” said Shue. “That next step down is the collegiate level and its still an enormous stage, and most people that have successful collegiate careers go on to be really successful pros in their sport, so just being able to do that at such a high level is a dream.”
Shue’s commitment comes just a day after he extended his lead over the rest of the state in the discus, posting a huge throw of 204-10½ at a tri-meet held at Paramus Catholic.
There were many reason that Shue picked Texas.
“It’s just been a dream type of school from the beginning,” Shue said. “The coaches there, Coach Sion, coaches the olympic champion in the discus, so stuff like that is an awesome draw to a school, obviously it’s not everything, but when you get to train side-by-side with olympic champions and record holders and be around those types of successful people, it just breeds even more success.”
“It’s just where I wanted to be,” he added. “The area of the country, getting away from the cold, rainy jersey weather and just the school is awesome with the history of the track and throws program and the guys that have come through there, so the decision was a based on everything cumulatively.”
Including track and field, Shue is a three-sport athlete, playing guard on Bergen Catholic’s state-title winning football squad and also being one of the state’s best heavyweights. However, Shue will put all his focus into track and field and throw full-time once he joins the Longhorns squad.
“From the beginning, I always wanted to play in the NFL or go to the Olympics,” Shue said, speaking on what went into the decision to only throw in college. “Obviously, when I was eight I didn’t think I’d throw collegiately and try to chase pro and olympic dreams in throwing, growing up I wanted to do all three.
“Going through middle school and high school, I started to realize that I was good at football and wrestling, but I had a gift and something that could take me even farther than the other two in track,” he added. “I’ve talked to other schools about wrestling and track or track and football, just doing double in general, I’ve done three sports all my life, so its definitely going to be different come fall 2025 doing just one.”
Shue’s mark on Tuesday not only surpassed his previous PR by about four feet, it also became the No. 5 throw in N.J. history and is second in the country this season as well. The only athletes to throw further in state history are East Brunswick’s Sam Mattis (218-4), Overbrook’s Ron Dayne (216-11 in 1996), Bayonne’s Glenn DiGiorgio (213-4 in 2002), and Monmouth’s Adam Kuehl (209-0 in 2002).
He also already holds the freshman (198-5) and sophomore (200-1) state records in the event, and now sits within reach of Sam Mattis’s junior state record of 207-2 set back in 2011.
