Few would’ve expected Jaloni Wiley to be where she is today when she first got to Homewood-Flossmoor High School.
The junior thrower was a cheerleader who had designs on being a sprinter for the track team. Vikings throws coach Billy Bundy saw something in her, though. Two years later, Wiley is a defending state champion in the shot put aiming to rewrite record books.
“I picked up a shot when I was 8, but I didn’t really take it seriously. I really wanted to be a sprinter,” she said. “I didn’t see it. I was a cheerleader. I was just like ‘I’m just throwing a ball around.’”
Her talent was clear to those around her after her freshman season. Wiley started hearing from coaches and others that she may have a future in the sport. She made the difficult decision to give up cheer and focus on the shot put and discus.
“Coach Bundy has this eye for athletes, for explosiveness. Her being a cheerleader, her explosiveness, her build, I think he knew. I don’t know how he does it. I call it the ‘Bundy Effect,’” coach Tywon Green said. “She broke some records (throwing) her freshman year and ever since she’s been getting better and better. Just a remarkable kid, great academically and a great leader for that young shot group. Just an awesome kid.”
Bundy got to work with Wiley, putting her through a program he’s proven to produce over a career at Thornwood and with the Vikings. In less than two years, a cheerleader became a state champion.
Other young H-F throwers are throwing at state-qualifying levels, too, Green said. He thinks the Vikings could have a “shot put factory” coming, with Wiley out front.
“I don’t know how Bundy does it,” Green said. “He sticks to his plan. He just has an idea of what it takes from his time at Thornwood with those Olympians, those state champs, and he just works it. To this day, I sit back and I say ‘How does he do this?’”
Wiley took first at the Illinois Indoor Championships March 29 at Gately Park, throwing 13.17 meters (43 feet, 2.5 inches). A few days before that, she threw 14.04 meters (46 feet) at Thornton’s Christopher Whitfield Invitational.
“That’s more than I expected I would throw (in the indoor season),” Wiley said. “I popped off a 14 (-meter throw) and I was like ‘Yeah, that’s where I want to be right now.’”
Strength training was a focus over the last year. The facilities and coaches at H-F afford athletes like Wiley luxuries not available to most high schoolers.
One day, Wiley would do squats, bench, jammers and dumbbell inclines. The next day’s workout included cleans, dead lifts, box jumps and medicine ball throws. Those would repeat, with repetitions and intensity based around how close the next competition would be.
“Last year, I was still pretty new to the sport, didn’t really know what was happening. Winning state showed me I have a lot of potential,” she said. “I’m a lot stronger than I was last year. I may not look strong but I am very strong.”
Competitors certainly know Wiley is strong. She said she notices the way others look at her as the defending state champion. Expectations are higher.
“Everytime we give her a ceiling, she goes through it. We thought, indoor, she might hit 44 or 45 (feet) and she throws 46,” Green said. “The way she works, the way she locks in, by the time she graduates she might be a 50-foot thrower. She might be 49 and she might throw the disc 160 feet. It’s really up to her. She really likes to win.”
The goals for this season are another shot put state title, hopefully with a throw approaching 15 meters. That Thornton Invite throw is her personal record. She also wants to place in the discus after qualifying for state as a sophomore.
“I want to win state so I’m going to work to win state, again,” Wiley said. “That’s definitely something I want to do and I will train for it.”