Telstar’s Berry breaks 48-year hurling record

In May, Jordan Berry, right, of Newry, broke Sheri LearnedÕs 48-year hurling record for the shot put. The two met at the track at Telstar where they competed. Rose Lincoln

BETHEL — Every day at school on her way to art class, Jordan Berry would pass the track record board on the wall across from the gym at Telstar. “I’d slow down to look at it some days. I memorized the number I needed to beat. I thought my name is going to be on the board before I graduate.” On May 5, Berry threw the shot put 30 feet breaking a 48-year record of 29 feet held by Sheri Learned since 1974.

In addition to breaking Learned’s record, Berry, 18, of Newry, earned the Team MVP Award scoring more individual points than any of her teammates. She qualified for the Mountain Valley Conference Championship Meet in all three throwing events, Shot Put, Discus, and Javelin. She also qualified to compete at the Class C State Meet for shot put and discus.

Berry has played field hockey, softball, soccer, and basketball. She played ice hockey in elementary school and was an alpine racer from age 8 until eighth grade. She plans to attend Central Maine Community College for two years, bettering her track scores there, then apply to a D1 school like Boston College or University of New England. The honor roll student will major in pre-med or nursing.

As the unofficial captain, Berry led the track team in stretches, then as the only full time girls hurler, went off alone to practice her throws. On her last hurl of the day at the May 5 home meet, she picked up the shot put and thought, “this is going to be the one.” In my head I thought, “I just beat the record,” but admits that she thought every throw would be ‘the one’ and she really wasn’t positive until they measured.

In May, Jordan Berry, left, of Newry, broke Sheri Learned’s 48-year hurling record for the shot put. The two met at the track at Telstar where they competed. Rose Lincoln/Photographer Rose Lincoln

In May, Jordan Berry, of Newry, broke Sheri LearnedÕs 48-year hurling record for the shot put. Photos of Learned, on right, who also played basketball are from the 1974 Telstar yearbook. She is still best friends with her high school teammate, Brenda (Bubba) Smith, on left. Rose Lincoln

On Berry’s fathers’ side of the family, her cousin Katie Wight, has broken running records and holds the record for the discus. Her great uncle, Brad Wight, holds the men’s shot-put record. Berry’s boyfriend, Robert Paradis, taught her how to hurl. Before she graduated Telstar, she proudly passed the torch, teaching several of the younger athletes on the team, boys and girls, the techniques of throwing.

Like Berry, multi-sport athlete, Learned (now Sheri Judkins) joined track as a senior. Realizing her senior year softball team would not be as competitive as the previous years’ teams, she jumped ship and competed for the track team at the end of the season. She remembers that her science teacher Tim Kersey, not the coach,) showed her how to throw the shot put. Learned participated in only three track meets: one was where she broke the record for throwing and another was the Maine state meet. It was at the state meet at Mt. Ararat High School, where she heard over the loudspeaker that she had broken a school record. “It was kind of exciting,” she remembered.

Learned said she has several trophies and was the first female athlete at Telstar to letter in every sport. There was a year-end banquet for all the athletes but while her male counterpart was recognized, she was not. “I was a little peeved about that” remembers Leonard, 48 years later.

“I wanted to play football, but they wouldn’t let me. I boxed in the gym and had to use the boys’ weight room because I broke all the weights in the girls’ weight room. They asked me to stay out of there.”

“My mother was sickly so I went to a lot of away meets alone, when I returned home from winning the state basketball foul shot conference, my mother came to the door and said, ‘I knew you could do it.”

From 1987 to 1991, Learned played semi-pro softball all over the state of Arizona for 11 months a year, three games every night. Some games started as late as 10PM because of the heat. She played on fast and slow pitch teams and finally got a chance to play with the men on her co-ed softball team. “I love softball” she said.

In 1992, her husband died, so she returned to Maine to be near family. She lives in Morrill and cares for her great granddaughter who has special needs. She taught her nephew how to hurl but hasn’t picked up a shot put since 1994 when she became disabled after falling on the ice and experiencing extensive injuries.

Asked about Berry breaking her record, Learned first pondered if Helen Berry was Jordan’s grandmother, because if so, she was also Learned’s English teacher at Telstar. (Turns out she was Jordan’s great grandmother). Then of Jordan’s hurl, she said, “I’m very proud of her.”