By Mark Seraydarian

In his final home meet, John Ludden ’03, currently a senior at University of California Berkeley, finished third in the hammer throw with a personal record of 62.79 meters.  The distance not only was a regional qualifying mark, but good enough to place Ludden fifth on Cal’s all-time top-ten hammer throwing list.

In the men’s discus, Ludden recorded another personal record and regional qualifier with a 52.20 meter throw. This meet, called the California Collegiate Challenge, was created as an alternative to the historical Drake and Penn Relays, which would often get rained out.

Stanford and Cal hosted the meet, which turned out to be a huge success, drawing teams from as far away as Illinois and Florida. Last year as a junior, Ludden threw Cal’s second best hammer in the NCAA West Regional meet, a 60.02 meter throw.  He also threw Cal’s third best shot put, a 16.11 meter catapult and a 51.13 meter discus throw, third best in the Bay-Area Blast Off meet. 
He took eighth place in the hammer throw in the NCAA Regional last year.

In 2003 at Harvard-Westlake, Ludden was CIF champion in shot put and discus. John Ludden is Orchestra Teacher Paul Ludden’s son.