18 April 2023
EMPORIA (KSNT) – Brooks Lowe is a javelin thrower for Emporia State track and field team.
Lowe is also a defensive lineman for the Emporia State football team.
Both squads want his contributions, but neither side has a problem with the other.
“I’m a huge proponent of cross training,” Emporia State associate head football coach Mike LoPorto said. “I don’t like recruiting guys who are just football guys. We want the basketball, the wrestling, the track. It just develops better athletes.”
“[Head football coach Garin] Higgins and his staff, they are awesome to work with. We both have the same philosophy, we want the best athletes on our roster,” Emporia State head track and field coach Steven Blocker said.
There’s much more to Lowe’s story, though.
Lowe won the javelin throw at the Kansas Relays – one of the top track events in the country – which fell on the same day as the Emporia State football spring game. Lowe didn’t take any time celebrating his success.
“Immediately hopped in the truck with my parents, they brought me back here, dropped me off at the locker room, ran in with my backpack on, sat down with a hamburger in my hand, putting my football pants on, by the time I finished eating my hamburger and putting my pants on, it was time to run onto the field,” Lowe said.
Hours after beating some of the top competition in the country, Lowe was getting reps at the Hornets’ spring game.
“Those are the types of guys you want in a football program,” head football coach Garin Higgins said. “He goes out and competes in the javelin, does a great job, and wins the javelin. He’s trying to move his way up on the depth chart here, that’s important. Tells you what kind of competitor he is.”
Deciding to drive back was all Lowe’s decision.
“Honestly I didn’t know he was going to do that,” Blocker said.
“‘Hey my Mom and Dad and I are going to take off,’ and I thought, ‘Oh, yeah, you have a football game,'” assistant track coach Kellsey Trimble said.
“I didn’t realize it til after the spring game, that he had actually got back,” Higgins said.
“One of the defensive lineman said, ‘Oh, I didn’t know if you were going to make it.’ Well, I just got here,” Lowe said.