Benefield: Former Empire athlete conquers Highland Games as top amateur

Gary Randolph thought there was no way he’d start off on the right foot.

The recent CSU Stanislaus grad arrived in Vinstra, Norway last month to find that the opening day of the Amateur Highland Games World Championships was loaded with his least-favorite events. It was like bellying up to the table and finding heaping helpings of lima beans, Brussels sprouts (although I like these), eggplant and liver. No burger, no cake. None of the good stuff.

“If I had to pick my bottom four, my worst four, the first day was my worst four,” he said.

Yeah, whatever. Don’t believe this guy.

He won two of the four events, setting personal records in three. Over two days? Randolph - who played football and threw shot put and discus for Healdsburg High and was on the track team at Santa Rosa Junior College - won six of eight events and came home with the world title and more than a couple site records.

And Randolph hasn’t been doing this Highland Games thing very long. His coach at Stanislaus, five-time world champion Ryan Vierra, turned him onto the fun of launching 100- to 180-pound poles into the air, hucking 22-pound rocks and throwing heavy weights over high bars.

Randolph shines at this stuff.

His performance in Norway was dominant and all the more impressive, considering where he was six months ago.

It was last February and Randolph was teeming with confidence about his senior campaign for the Warriors. After all, he was coming in as a three-time All-American and nine-time All-Region thrower. He owns the Stanislaus State school record in both the hammer throw and discus and is second on the all-time list in the shot put.

So when Randolph - at the first track meet of his senior year and with expectations for a national title sky high - felt something go wrong with his foot during the hammer throw, it was devastating.

“I rolled my foot the wrong way and that was it. It just broke,” he said.

It was his second throw of the season.

Instead of roaring toward the NCAA meet where he’d hoped to excel in three disciplines, he was rolling around on a medical scooter. Instead of working on his throws in the ring, he was tossing heavy balls against a wall watching other guys work out.

“It sucked because it was my senior year,” he said. “I didn’t have a senior year.”

Well, not quite. Remember how he broke his foot on his second hammer throw of the season? His first throw qualified him for the NCAA Division II national meet.

A fairy tale would have the hard-working Randolph limping back into the circle at the national meet to throw the best performance of his life and take home a title. But this isn’t a fairy tale. He didn’t make it out of the prelims.

“I had six days of practice,” he said, laughing. “Obviously it didn’t go well.”

“It was really bitter. I wasn’t ready for it to end,” he said.

But bitter turned to better for Randolph, who almost immediately set his sights on the IHGF amateur games last month in Norway. He had qualified for the games when he won the U.S. National amateur title last summer in Kansas.

“I just switched my mind frame - ‘I’m going to put everything into this Highland Games,’” he said.

He was ready to avenge his shattered senior season on a world stage.

“I put in so much work that I felt like I deserved to kind of catch a break at some point,” he said.

Randolph didn’t catch a break, per se; he doled them out. He broke the field record at Vinstra in the 16-pound hammer, 22-pound Braemer stone, 22-pound hammer, 56-pound weight, 18-pound stone and 28-pound weight for distance. He marked personal bests in seven of eight events.

Whew.

He celebrated with a two-week tour around Europe.

Despite his breakout performance on the biggest amateur stage in the world, Randolph is unsure if he’ll go pro.

While he thinks about it, he’ll stay on the amateur circuit, including a rematch of sorts with his rivals from the U.S. amateur national meet in Kansas last summer at the Scottish Highland Gathering and Games in Pleasanton on Labor Day weekend. He’s also pursuing his kinesiology degree and signed on as the throws coach at Modesto Junior College.

The pro ranks are hard to crack, and spots in major events are by invitation only, according to Randolph. And despite his outsized success, he says he’s still kind of an unknown quantity.

“I think I have done nine or 10 games in my whole life,” he said. “A lot of people don’t know who I am, especially in the midwest or east coast. My name is not one that is known very well across the country.”

Not for long.

You can reach staff columnist Kerry Benefield at 707-526-8671 or kerry.benefield@pressdemocrat.com, on Twitter @benefield and on Instagram at kerry.benefield.