It’s one of the simplest disciplines in track and field. But to do it well is extremely difficult.

The object is to throw a spear that weighs less than two pounds as far as possible.

“It’s not that complicated,” Glacier javelin coach Stu Levitt said.

“You really just run and throw. Obviously, there’s more to it, but it isn’t that complicated.”

Thanks to a few fantastic athletes, Glacier has turned the simple event of javelin into an art the last few years, winning both the boys and girls titles a year ago and entering this weekend’s state meet as the favorites to do so again.

Glacier coach Arron Deck said the key to success has started with the kids.

“They’re having fun,” Deck said. “If you’re having fun and you add a little success to that, with teenage kids — watch out. They’re going to take off from there.”

Deck said Levitt, the 1963 Penn Relays javelin champion when he attended Haverford (Pa.) College, has added a bit of fire to the program.

“He just loves the event,” Deck said. “He has a very good approach of getting kids to pull over the top and they buy into his philosophy. They kind of feed off one another.”

Levitt, who has also coached at the college level, said intensity is as large a discipline in the event as footwork and form.

“I try to get them to put tremendous effort into it,” Levitt said. “I think sometimes we focus too much on technique. You realize it’s not just technique, it’s having a certain animal mentality. You really have to be aggressive and channel energy.”

Of the six times the school has been to the state tournament, boys have thrown 190 feet just seven times. Five of those throws were by Glacier athletes.

That energy and aggressiveness culminated last year when the Wolfpack boys took the top three spots at state. Three-time champion Todd Ogden set a state meet record of 210-8 after throws of 193-2 and 192-2 by teammates Taylor Hulslander and Shelton Todd, respectively.

“We knew we could all place,” Ogden said.

“Taylor Hulslander threw a great throw. Shelton Todd threw a better throw. We fed off each other.”

In the 17 states that have javelin as an event, no school combined for as many long throws last season as Glacier. All three athletes were in the top 41 in the nation, earning then-seniors Hulslander and Todd NCAA Division I offers.

This season, while Ogden sat nursing a football injury early in the year, junior Logan Jones won the prestigious Swede Dahlberg Invitational in Butte on his only throw of the meet.

And it’s not just the guys getting in the act. Glacier junior Keyawna Larson was one of just 30 girls in the country to throw longer than 140 feet last year and led the state for much of this season. She won state again on Friday with a throw of 141-7, the 27th best throw in the nation this year and two feet short of the state record.

“I enjoy seeing their potential. When you get a kid that has general athletic ability, you can sort of channel it,” Levitt said. “Try to get them to fulfill every attribute that they have. For me it’s like putting a puzzle together and creating something special.

“There’s probably a number of kids that if they challenge their energy into javelin, they’ll be successful. I’ve been fortunate to get some of them.”

Ogden has been the cream of the crop. The senior has a chance to become only the fifth boy in Montana history to win four straight state track titles in an individual event, and only the second in the javelin. He would be the first since Malta’s Craig Stiles ended his career in 1971, and the first with the new javelin.

Ogden has trained with national coaches and thrown the javelin on the other side of the world, throwing for 211-11 at the Pihitipudas Jav Carnival in Pihitipudas, Finland, last June.

“I wouldn’t be surprised to see him in the Olympics,” Deck said.

His journey, and the Wolfpack’s, continue today with one last round of throws.

While it won’t be easy, you can expect the throws to be long.