NAMPA, Idaho – When Jake Knight was a toddler he'd spend his spring afternoons throwing a specially made shot put at a California high school practice.

When he got bored of throwing with the Oak Park High School kids, he'd take a regular-sized shot put and wander off to throw it into gopher holes.

While no gophers were harmed in the making of this athlete, Knight's early love for shot put blossomed into a lifelong love for track and field and the throwing events specifically.

"I've always liked track because it is an individual sport and you are on your own," he said. "Whatever hard work you put in affects you. If you screw up, it is on you."

The Northwest Nazarene senior will compete in the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track and Field Championships in the shot put and discus on Friday and Saturday in Kingsville, Texas.

That Knight has always liked track and field or that he was participating in the sport as a toddler was nearly preordained.

One set of grandparents ran a track and field club in Southern California and his mom and dad both competed in the sport at UCLA.

Of course, it is one thing to have a family lineage in a sport and another to add to the successes of the family.

Knight has done just that. He qualified for the SEC Championships as a freshman at Auburn University in 2015. He went to the national indoor championships earlier this year, finishing 11th in the shot put. And now he will compete in two events at the national outdoor meet this week.

"It has been super fun to watch him throw again," said Michelle Knight, Jake's mom. "He is just really fun to watch because he loves to compete. He sets a goal and when he finishes a meet, I ask him if he is excited and he says yes, but he always has this goal. Not settling for being just good enough is what keeps driving him."

GROWING UP IN THE SPORT
One of the first times it became apparent that Knight was on his way to stardom in track and field was when he was nine years old.

Thirty-three years earlier his dad, John Knight, was just nine when he set a record for the youth track club in the shot put. And at age nine, Jake broke his dad's record.

"We totally broke into tears," Michelle Knight said. "We were pretty emotional."

Jake's grandmother Carolyn and her late husband John started the Las Virgenes Track Club when their son John was seven. The elder John was a sprinter in high school and the couple got together with some other local families and decided to start the club.

They ran it until John and their other son Geoff reached high school, when Carolyn took over as the high school track and field coach.

"I've always enjoyed track and field," Carolyn said. "We were out there together all the time, my husband and I and my two boys. It was something we did as a family."

The younger John went on to UCLA, where he threw the hammer and was a three-time All-American. When he graduated he was second all-time at UCLA in the hammer. He remains in the top 10 to this day.

Michelle went to UCLA for basketball and participated in track and field as a junior. She was a star in high school in the high jump and the hurdles and was named the California athlete of the year as a senior.

She trained with Olympic gold medalist Jackie Joyner-Kersee her junior year of college and Michelle eventually met her future husband in the training room where she was icing her injuries.

After getting married, the pair eventually worked as coaches for the high school team setting the stage for Jake to join the sport as a toddler.

The summer after Jake's fifth grade, the family moved to the Treasure Valley. Jake picked up the discus in eighth grade and eventually played football and track and field at Rocky Mountain High School in Meridian.

THREE COLLEGES IN FIVE YEARS
During his senior year of high school Knight signed a letter of intent and was committed to attending Oregon State University on a football scholarship, but after a strong spring season in track and field in which he won two state titles, he decided to go to college for track.

He sent tapes out and Auburn contacted him for a visit and the next thing he knew, he and his dad moved to Alabama.

After just one year, though, Knight soured on the school.

"There is nothing to do but party there and I don't party," he said. "Also, I would go to Auburn football games and it was crazy there. It made me miss playing football."

So, Knight contacted Boise State and returned to the Valley to play for the Broncos. He sat out a redshirt year and then played the next season for BSU.

After a solid year playing on special teams and at tight end, Knight got a few stingers. In spring practice and summer camp, the stingers kept happening and Knight would lose feeling in his arms. He eventually chose long term health over short term football.

He spent 2017-18 going to Boise State part-time and working at UPS and WalMart before developing the urge to throw again.

After being spurned by the Boise State track and field program, he reached out to then-NNU coach John Spatz, who excitedly offered him a scholarship.

"I felt really welcomed – way more than I thought I'd be," Knight said. "It's more personable here and people are really nice. It's been really good."

THE FUTURE IS NOW
Knight has shattered school records in all three of his events, even resetting the discus record three times in three weeks earlier this spring.

With the national meet looming, Knight has high hopes that a title might be in his future.

"I'm trying to PR and most importantly, move up the ranking that I'm going in as," he said. "And hopefully win the discus. Anything is possible at championships."

Knight isn't stopping this week, though.

He plans to move to San Diego, Calif., this summer where his other set of grandparents live and work out at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista with hopes of qualifying for the U.S. Track and Field Team Trials in the summer of 2020.

Whether he makes it to the trials or not, it seems certain that track and field will continue to be a part of the Knight family's lives.