Incoming Northwestern Freshman Goes All-State in Three Throwing Events
One of the beauties of playing high school sports is that you can play multiple of them, so long as the seasons don't overlap. Incoming Northwestern freshman Thomas Preckel took full advantage of that opportunity during his high school experience.
The class of 2025 three-star tight end is an intriguing prospect for Northwestern who will head to campus in a couple short months. But he was also an accomplished track and field athlete at Lafayette High School in Missouri.
Standing at 6-foot-3 with a weight of 210 lbs, Preckel is a big guy. On the track and field team, he specialized in the three throwing events: discus, shot put and javelin. This year, he was named All-State in all three events.
Impressive feat for incoming 2025 TE @PreckelThomas https://t.co/XSxBME8sRd
— Matthew Shelton (@M_Shelton33) June 1, 2025
At Lafayette, Preckel leaves in possession of the javelin record and sits in second and eighth in shot put and discus respectively. He also holds the all-time record for points in a season and in a career.
Preckel's track and field career is now over, and it's time to focus on football as he transitions to the college level. But sometimes winners are winners, and he certainly proved himself in that way in the throwing events.
Northwestern hopes that Preckel's projectable frame and solid prospect ranking will result in a future building block for the offense. Preckel was ranked the No. 61 tight end in his class and the No. 17 player from his state.
Who knows, maybe Preckel could even offer something besides traditional tight end responsibilities to this offense. Offensive coordinator Zach Lujan is known for his creativity, and Preckel certainly seems to be able to throw things a far distance. Maybe that could be utilized.
Regardless, Preckel's performance as a track and field athlete in high school was incredibly impressive, and he can move into football full-time knowing he gave it his best effort.
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Ryan Cole is a writer for Northwestern Wildcats On SI covering every team on campus. He’s currently a junior at NU where he’s studying journalism and previously wrote and edited for Inside NU. He also studies business with an eye towards eventually helping develop business models to revive local news. In his free time, Cole enjoys watching sports, playing sports, reading the news and singing.