A Rye High junior who had never before competed in the javelin throw broke the school record for the event twice this spring and is now ranked second in the state with the approach of next month’s championship outdoor meets.
Rocklan Boisseau’s latest record — a throw of 174 feet, 3 inches — earned him first place at the Section 1 Westchester County Championship on May 18. He is the only junior among the state’s top five javelin throwers this spring — and is ranked 86th in the nation among those in the graduating classes of 2025.
Though this is his first year competing, the javelin is not a surprise niche for Boisseau, given that the field event runs in the family. His grandfather threw the javelin for Kansas State University’s track and field team about 60 years ago, while his older brother, Dalton Boisseau, competed for the Garnets in 2022 and 2023 —setting Rye High’s previous javelin record just a year ago.
“Watching him is what made me want to start throwing,” the younger Boisseau said of his brother, who just finished his freshman year at Indiana University. “I trained through the entire summer and stayed in shape lifting in the winter. It was a lot of YouTube videos and watching professionals to learn the technique.”
When he competed for the first time — on April 25 at a meet in neighboring Harrison — Boisseau shattered his older brother’s 2023 school record of 157 feet, 4 inches, throwing 167 feet, 6 inches. Twelve days later, he broke his own record with a throw of 172 feet, 7 inches at the Section 1 League 2D Championships. Two weeks later, he broke it yet again.
On May 28, Boisseau placed first again at the four-county Section 1 tournament at Hendrick Hudson High School with a throw of 170 feet, 11 inches.
Now Boisseau — who hopes to stick with the javelin when he gets to college — is planning to attend the New Balance Nationals Outdoor high school track and field championships, June 13-16, at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.