Saldana’s never-ending Journey
From picking up the shot put to becoming a state champion
- the five-year journey for Luke Saldana
Luke Saldana has grown into a champion in the last five years. Here’s a year-by-year journey since his start in eighth grade in 2021.
For most people, a rainy day is an excuse to stay inside. For Luke Saldana, it felt like home.
Rain poured onto the throwing circle at Tom Black Track during the TSSAA State Championships in May, turning the ring into a slick, unforgiving surface. Every athlete had to navigate the same conditions, but while others worried about footing, Saldana found comfort.
He had spent years throwing through whatever Warren County weather decided to offer: freezing mornings, oppressive summer heat, whipping winds or pouring rain.
It never mattered.
The conditions that frustrated everyone else were the same conditions that had helped shape him.
When Saldana uncorked his opening throw, he immediately seized control of the state championship. Nobody would top it. By the end of the day, the Warren County senior had accomplished the goal he had chased for an entire year, winning the Class AAA state championship in the shot put.
The gold medal was the culmination of five years of work. It was also the beginning of the next dream.
Just last week - less than a month removed from becoming Warren County’s latest state champion - Saldana committed the University of Memphis, fulfilling another goal on a list that continues to grow.
Winning a state championship allowed Saldana to cross one goal off his list. Conference championships, NCAA championships and - maybe one day - the Olympics have already taken its place.
While the accomplishments are piling up in quick succession now, the foundation for Saldana’s success took years.
Long before the medals, college offers and statewide recognition, Saldana was simply a middle school student trying to avoid another lap around the track.
“I ran one lap and then walked (toward the field events),” Saldana said of his first experience with the shot put. “Coach asked if there was something else I could do besides run.”
The answer changed everything.
He picked up the shot put as an eighth grader with little understanding of the sport. There were awkward throws, sore shoulders and days of mounting of frustration.
Nothing about those first days suggested a future state champion, but the lessons learned the hard way were all he would need.
“I kept getting defeated,” Saldana said. “And I got tired of it.”
Losing became fuel.
By the time he reached high school, Saldana began narrowing his focus. Football and basketball gradually gave way to throwing and powerlifting. His father, James, remembers the turning point distinctly.
“(It was) Sophomore year,” James Saldana said. “As he started dropping other sports he needed something. He loves powerlifting and throwing and powerlifting and throwing go hand in hand.”
That decision didn’t simply change Luke’s schedule - It changed his life.
While most high schoolers move from season to season, either swapping out sports or simply using the time away from competition as rest, Saldana made a 365-day commitment to shot put.
When he wasn’t at his job, he was putting in the work - lifting and throwing daily while tracking his sleep and eating healthy. It turned into repeat mode, with even his meals turning into something he could plan to the day.
Breakfast often consisted of six eggs, ground turkey or sausage, a bowl of cereal and as much water as he could consume before the day truly began. It was the fuel he needed because, even after an eight-hour workday, there were still workouts waiting.
Training wasn’t optional - It was the priority. If friends wanted to hang out before he had finished training, the answer was no.
“I was still going to train,” Saldana said. “I didn’t care if it was 10 o’clock at night.”
That relentless drive stood out immediately to Warren County throwing coach Jeremy Wilhelm.
“He had determination of what he wanted to do,” Wilhelm said. “No matter what the obstacles were, he pressed through them to be the best he could be.”
Wilhelm resisted the temptation to force Saldana into a rigid training schedule, even though the talented thrower had already started developed one of his own. Instead, Wilhelm painted a clear picture of purpose when the duo went to work.
“We trained as much as he wanted to, but it was good workouts on accomplishing what his goals were,” Wilhelm said. “We didn’t train for time. We trained until we achieved what we wanted.”
Sometimes that meant practice lasted 45 minutes. Sometimes it stretched closer to an hour. There was never a stopwatch dictating the session.
“There are people who want to train for two hours or more,” Wilhelm said. “But you can overdo it. You can throw your arm out. We trained until we accomplished what we wanted.”
The same philosophy extended to every aspect of Saldana’s development, which fit right into the program Wilhelm had developed with WCHS track.
“We do things unorthodox with what we have,” Wilhelm said. “If there was a set pattern then everyone would do it. We find what fits and make the best of it.”
That approach became necessary.
Unlike many elite throwers across the country, Saldana didn’t grow up with world-class throwing facilities. Practice often meant climbing fences after throws sailed beyond the Warren County throwing area and disappeared into thick brush.
As he improved, his travels to Coffee County for work often meant stopping for practice before the ride home. The facilities better suited his development, even if it meant sometimes pointing his car toward the field and throwing with just the headlights giving him guidance.
Rather than complain, Saldana adjusted. He always adjusted because the people around him never stopped looking for another way to make him better.
Luke and James Saldana are pictured at the banquet when Luke was nominated for the USA Today Middle Tennessee Male Track Athlete of the year.
And nobody invested more time into Luke’s career than his father.
James wasn’t just Luke’s driver or the guy to give him pep talks at the end of the night. He became a student of the sport himself, devouring countless YouTube videos to study technique. He helped assemble a home gym where both of them could train.
He wasn't a throwing coach when Luke started. He became one because his son needed him to be.
And if Luke was throwing in freezing temperatures or blistering heat, you wouldn’t have to look far to see James watching throw after throw.
“Most of the time when I go throw, he’s right there analyzing every step,” Luke said. “I’d be nothing without him. He fought so much for what I’ve gotten, and he’s still fighting.”
The relationship became much more than father and son.
They became workout partners, problem solvers and dream chasers - together at all times.
When the state championship dream was nearly accomplished as a junior, some would have taken that as a sign that the work was enough. Instead, Luke and James knew it was time to double down.
Second place wasn't good enough for Luke. Instead, making sure the gold would come back to Warren County this year became the obsession.
Leaving the meet, Saldana made the bold proclamation he would win as a senior, then spent the entire offseason making sure he wasn’t wrong.
When he opened his senior season with a huge throw in Cookeville that vaulted him near the top of the state rankings, something changed mentally.
“I knew nothing was going to stop me,” Saldana said. “I knew I wanted it more than anybody else.”
By the time state arrived again, hope had been replaced by expectation. Luke believed he was going to win.
Even with rain pouring onto the throwing ring, his confidence never wavered.
Wilhelm and James adjusted his approach, opting for a more controlled start to account for the slick conditions. The strategy worked perfectly as his first throw held up all day.
Ironically, the one throw he’ll probably remember most never counted.
On his final attempt, Saldana unleashed what he believes would have been the best throw of his life before slipping in the soaked circle.
The throw was wiped away, even if the state championship wasn’t.
Luke hasn’t forgotten it and may never let it go. That’s because for most athletes, winning a state title would represent the finish line, but for the Saldanas, it marked another checkpoint.
“The goals now are conference championship, NCAA championship and then the 2032 Summer Olympics,” said James.
Those are enormous goals. Then again, becoming a state champion once seemed enormous too.
He'll throw at Memphis this fall, beginning the chase for conference titles, NCAA championships and maybe, if everything goes right, the Olympics.
But none of those dreams began in Memphis. They began on cold mornings, in pouring rain, with a father willing to learn, a coach willing to adapt and a young thrower unwilling to lose.
They never needed perfect conditions. They just needed another throw.
Luke Saldana with coach Jeremy Wilhelm before he became a state champion.
