ON CAMPUS
ATHLETICS
NEVER
QUIT
By Sam Starnes When the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic led to the cancellation of the 2020 track and field season, Jude Misko, a Rutgers–Camden standout in the obscure and ancient sport known as the hammer throw, didn’t miss a beat. “I kept telling myself that eventually it’s going to be over and I’ll have a season at some point,” said Misko, a graduate student in criminal justice who earned his bachelor’s degree at Rutgers–Camden in 2020. Misko continued practicing four days a week, persevering through lone practice sessions 6
in freezing cold, darkness, rain, and heat. “I told myself that nobody else is doing this. People are going to be home, playing video games, relaxing. Nobody is going to spend their days training for the hammer for a season that may or may not happen.” Except Misko, who knows how to overcome challenges. Standing five-footnine, he is shorter than almost all the other accomplished hammer throwers. It was a detail he contemplated in May 2021 after he threw the 16-pound ball, which is connected to a four-foot wire with a handle, more than 60 meters—longer than
Rutgers–Camden hammer thrower’s commitment to overcoming challenges resulted in a 2021 national championship
two NBA-length basketball courts put together—to win the NCAA Division III national championship. “Before we got onto the podium, I was looking around and thinking, ‘Wow I’m the shortest guy here.’ I take pride in that, being the shortest guy. Everybody is taller than me, and I beat them all.” Misko also has overcome serious injury challenges. In 2017, after he won the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division III championship at Rowan College of Gloucester County, he suffered a bulging
