Carbondale, IL (U-WIRE) -- Power is vital to success in almost every sport, but few harness it directly as do the throwing events in track and field.

At SIU resides a force of unimaginable power being developed by a couple of people who know what that power can do.

They are like the Marie and Pierre Curie of throws, or better yet, the first family of Saluki track and field. Their first project has come by way of Ohio State University. Only John and Connie-Price Smith can control the "Achi-bomb."

"By next year, I'm hoping that she's a world-class thrower," says throws coach John Smith of junior thrower Amarachi Ukabam. "She should be an NCAA champion before she leaves here."

She's already off to a fast start since joining the Missouri Valley Conference in the fall. Ukabam has been named the league's female field Athlete of the Week three times this year, including a current streak of two weeks in a row after her two record-breaking performances that begin the indoor season.

Ukabam set the SIU and the MVC weight throw record two weeks ago at the Saluki Booster with a toss of 69-00. The following weekend she broke the school and league record for the shot put with a distance of 55-6.25.

When Ukabam throws weighted objects around the isolated area of the track inside the Recreation Center, the occasional impact of the shot put and the weight throw leaves impressions in the mesh net and the plastic barrier surrounding the throwing circle. It looks like God's laundry hamper, and odd as a structure like that would be, to see the throwers in action is just as intimidating.

The near-behemoths who practice their technique inside can look cold and statuesque in a Greek-god sort of way, but when they open their mouths, they don't sound any different than a coed you might see prattling on in the Student Center. Ukabam exemplifies this the most.

When talking to her she trails off, messes with her dreadlocked hair, which after practice is free to fall about her face, jokes to a great degree and seems at times annoyingly shy.

For someone who demolishes some type of record every week, she doesn't make herself out to be anything special. She's just another student doing something she loves - hanging out with her friends in God's laundry hamper.

"My sister was throwing before me, and I always followed my sister around. I always wanted to be like her, so I did it and ended up being good at it," Ukabam said. "I stuck with it so here I am today. I'm happy."

Something special is going on at the recreation center. A conglomeration of great talent led by Ukabam has quickly made SIU's throws team as good as any in the country.

This confident bunch has conference championships on their mind, and by the time the Missouri Valley Conference Indoor Championships arrive, the other competitors may see a thrower or two who could be going to Beijing for the 2008 Olympics.

"Right now as a throwing squad we're probably one of the top three teams in the Midwest right now," Smith said.

Inside the thrower's sanctuary, stands John Smith, a former Saluki all-American thrower, holder of the indoor, outdoor and MVC records in the shot put and possibly the best throws coach in America.

Smith brought Ukabam to SIU when he decided to come to Carbondale from Ohio State, where he coached 18 Big Ten champions, 19 all-Americans and two national champions.

"Coaching is coaching, it doesn't matter where you are," Smith said. "To me it's all the same really, the only difference is Connie is in charge of the program. It makes things a lot easier, a lot less politics. It's a much nicer situation."

Among the many greats John coached was Ukabam the All-American, "Achi" the Big Ten Conference champion and its premier outdoor competitor, and the "Achi-bomb," an Olympic Trial qualifier who came up short last year but has the '08 games on her mind. All, of course, are one in the same.

Smith and Ukabam came together through the actions of Ukabam's determined mother in Creve Coeur, Missouri, her hometown.

Ukabam shined in high school and seemingly could have entered any track and field program she liked.

"When she came out of high school she was so talented that she could basically do nothing and win," John Smith said. "She was used to doing nothing and winning. Eventually we butted heads because there was a way I wanted her to train and there was a way she wanted to train.

"Eventually we got to a point where she realized that she's going to have to train the way I wanted her to train if she was going to get to that next level."

The choice to commit to John by Ukabam and her mother was a smart one - she was about to be molded by a man who knows what it's like to coach a world-class thrower.

In 1984, when Ukabam was a newborn, John started his collegiate coaching career immediately following his great run at SIU. John stayed at his alma mater and formed a quick bond with a member of the girls basketball team who was giving track and field a shot.

After succumbing to John's urging of her to compete in shot put, Connie Price-Smith made herself a fixture in international competition for the next 15 years. Connie would soon be tagged with the honor of "four-time Olympian." She competed up to the Sydney Olympics in 2000 where she almost medaled, despite a broken ankle.

"My wife is about as tough as they come," John said.

While she never won a medal, Connie still went farther than any U.S. woman in her time. She's the only U.S. woman to be ranked worldwide in the shot put for five straight years.

Through all that time John was there, the coach who pushed Connie to greatness. In 1990 they married. After a small stint coaching together at Ohio State, Connie was called back home to lead the Salukis while Smith waited in Columbus for the right time to rejoin his wife on a daily basis.

"It happens a lot in track and field," Connie said. "When you have two people that work in the same realm of things, with two people in the same sport it's hard to find two jobs at the same university, lots of time you end up split."

The right time happened last year when Connie became head coach of the entire track and field program and gained the authority to bring Smith into the fold.

Now sitting like Hercules and Xena atop of the program, they look down and continue their guidance of the next generation of great throwers.

Ukabam has what it takes, but John, ensconced in the work ethic of the old school, says work is still needed.

"Achi still has to learn to train as hard as my wife did," John said. "Achi's learned to train harder and harder but I would say at this point Connie trained harder than Achi. If she learns to train and be as intense in practice as Connie was, then she will most likely be making international teams because she will get better every year."

A report like that won't bother Ukabam in the least - she seems more old-school than John might give her credit. Ukabam loves competition, and even said she thrives on it. She only spent one week off during the recent break, and like her grizzled coach, Ukabam also believes she still could do better.

With ice packs wrapped around key areas of her musculature, she reveals that she's willing to do whatever it takes to reach the heights of Connie, and by the tone of her voice, you get the sense she will do that and much more.

"I want to compete internationally and go to the Olympics," Ukabam said. "I'm just going to keep on working at it. You've got to be strong to do this."

This is why she's willing to put her career in the hands of the Smiths. A better duo of throws coaches may not exist, a man with patience and plain talk draws championship performances out of walk-ons and full scholarship recipients. A woman who's been to all heights of success in the sport and can probably make a thrower better through osmosis.

"With the progressions that I was making, why would I stop that? Why would I want to leave that?" Ukabam said. "I didn't make a big, life-changing decision. After a while it was an easy decision to make, I was thinking about my career and it was like 'hey, got to follow coach.' It's obviously been working so far."

Something special is indeed happening as three figures of this magnatude link up like Ukabam and the Smiths. Imagine Phil Jackson with Michael Jordan as his assistant in Cleveland leading young Lebron James.

The stakes aren't as high here in this overlooked sport and at this overlooked school, but that kind of attention would be unwanted by the trio.

They do what they do with the best of intentions, and with no hang-ups. Only weighty objects hanging in the air temporarily before landing farther than most have ever thrown them.

(C) 2004 Daily Egyptian via U-WIRE