Brady Von Holten has gotten used to watching things sail through the air this spring.

Some days, he’s launching the discus at school record lengths. Other days, he’s on the golf course, where head coach Scott Keltner said he has built a reputation for sending deep drives off the tee.

“The kid just makes things go a long way,” Keltner said.

Von Holten started golfing when he was young, but quit when he was about 11 or 12. It wasn’t until his sophomore year that he returned.

“I picked it up really quick again,” he said. “I had friends that did it. It’s kind of why I started again.”

But by the time he started golfing again, he had already picked up a new sport. As a middle schooler, Von Holten started throwing discus on the track and field team.

With both of those being spring sports, he has had to work on balancing his time the last couple of seasons.

He said he doesn’t mind the busy schedule because he appreciates the chance to compete in both activities.

“I just love sports, so I kept on doing it,” he said.

Von Holten’s discus coach Chris Dunback said being a two-sport athlete has historically been a challenge. But he said Von Holten has been able to thread the needle to find success in both.

Both discus and golf are technical sports, Dunback said, and require lots of patience and fine-tuning. Those similarities have worked to Von Holten’s advantage by helping him improve in both sports at once.

“You gotta throw a lot of discus to be good at discus,” Dunback said. “You gotta hit a lot of golf balls to be good at golf. And I think he is able to do it, but a lot of times it’s outside of the normal school day.”

Von Holten has spent much of his time outside of school working on both sports. He spent last summer training as a discus thrower.

This spring, he spends most of his weekdays with his discus coach and golfs on the weekend. All of his practice is in addition to a busy two-sport competition schedule, plus his school work.

“He’s putting in the work, for sure,” Dunback said. “I think he’s organized, but I also think it’s important to him and so he makes it a priority in his life.”

Working in the weight room with Scott Russell has helped him add distance to both his drives and throws.

“It’s nice because I get to do both multiple times a week, so that’s fun,” Von Holten said.

Despite missing time with the team, Von Holten said he hasn’t missed a beat bonding with his teammates. It helps that he is friends with many of them outside of sports.

But the busy sports schedule also means lots of missed classes. Von Holten said he has worked with his teachers to make sure he stays caught up on classwork, and spends lots of time doing homework when he can squeeze it in.

Keltner has seen this firsthand because he is also a math teacher at the high school. He said earlier this season, Von Holten was asking him about getting some help with his math assignments while on the bus to a golf tournament.

“I see the student athlete side coming in, but also see him being responsible with managing his time and not giving way too much to one and sacrificing the other,” Keltner said.

Von Holten said it was helpful to have two coaches committed to ensuring he can fit everything in his busy schedule. He said Keltner is gracious to let him miss most golf practices, and track and field head coach MaryJo Swann and Dunback are helpful in making sure he stays caught up with his training even while missing time for golf tournaments.

“We’ve been fortunate enough to share him and share his successes with the track team as well,” Keltner said. “I just love that he seems so happy out here, and that we’ve seen success as well.”

The split schedule has been working for Von Holten. He has set multiple personal records this season in discus, including setting the school record earlier this season. And on the golf course, he helped the boys team have one of its best seasons ever, and has shot his best round ever this season.

“It’s a lot of fun when you just keep on getting better every week,” he said. “It’s nice to see that I can still balance both and do well at both at the same time.”

Reach reporter Cuyler Dunn at [email protected]