Before college football, Brady Holland excels as a thrower for Lincoln track and field team

The Cardinals senior plans to compete in both sports for Central Washington University

Lincoln senior Brady Holland gets ready to throw the shot put during the Cardinals’ Portland Interscholastic League dual meet at Wells. / Dan Brood

PORTLAND — Brady Holland was looking to take things a little easy.

The senior on the Lincoln track and field team, a standout thrower for the Cardinals, wasn’t planning on competing in the shot put event when Lincoln faced Wells in a Portland Interscholastic League dual meet last week at Wells High School.

Holland, with his thick head of blond hair, with a jacket on and wearing a backpack, went to the shot put pit, smiled and greeted the competitors.

Soon, those competitive urges took over.

“I have the Arcadia Invitational this weekend, so I was coming in, looking to not throw the shot, but I ended up wanting to do one throw,” Holland said.

So, off came the jacket and backpack, and into the pit Holland stepped. Without much warmup, he took that one throw, getting a mark of 44 feet, 11 inches.

“I started off pretty good, so I thought, ‘Why not do a couple more throws?’” Holland said.

By the time the competition ended, Holland ended up taking all four of his allotted throws, with his third attempt going 54-11, nearly sailing out of the pit at Wells while drawing ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ from the crowd that had gathered.

The mark of 54-11 ranks as the second-best throw in the state this season in 6A. The best — Holland’s throw of 55-10 at the PIL Varsity Relays, held April 2 at Cleveland High School.

Lincoln senior Brady Holland has the state’s top 6A mark in the shot put with a distance of 55 feet, 10 inches. / Dan Brood

It’s been that kind of season for the 6-foot-3, 305-pound Holland, and he’s looking for it to get even better.

“It’s been pretty good,” Holland said. “I’m at 55-10, but I’m hoping to boost that up a lot.”

He’s already boosted things up since his junior track and field season, when he placed second at the 6A state championships.

“Last season, I was just trying to get the highest mark possible,” Holland said. “Going into the state meet, I hadn’t had a consistent meet with all my throws above 50. Then I got, at state, all six throws above 50, or 51, with a two-foot PR (personal record), up to 53.”

Holland took second at the state meet last year with a mark of 53-3.75. He’s bettered that distance by more than two feet this season.

“I’ve just been working hard in the offseason,” Holland said. “I’m more consistent, with more power, and I’ve been working on technique.”

He’s also benefited from the help of one of his former shot put foes — 2024 Franklin graduate Ethan Aman, who topped Holland for the state shot put title last season with his throw of 60-1.25.

“I’m in a club with the guy who beat me last year,” Holland said. “He’s pretty much coaching me right now. He’s a pretty good coach and has really been helping me out.”

That help has aided Holland in setting a Lincoln school record, as his shot put throw of 55-10 topped the previous Cardinals record of 55-8.25 set by Karl Sanft in 2014.

“That was a school record, by an inch and a half or so,” Holland said. “It’s great to know that I’m setting new standards for Lincoln shot put. I’ve got a bunch of teammates that I’m sure will have a chance at breaking that. Hopefully, I can set it as high as I possibly can.”

With that, and more, in mind, Holland has his plans set for the rest of the season when it comes to the shot put and the discus.

“In the shot, by the Jesuit Twilight Relays (April 25), I want to really pop one out there, because I know I have it in me,” Holland said. “Ideally, I want to be around 62 or 63 (feet) around state. In the disc, I’ve had a bunch of good throws during practice — it’s just a matter of if it’s going to come out during a meet. I want to get maybe around 170 or 175.”

Lincoln senior Brady Holland lets the discus fly during the Cardinals' PIL dual meet at Wells. / Dan Brood

Holland finished 11th in the discus at last year’s 6A state championships with a throw of 127-8. He had a personal-best mark of 152-7 during the 2024 season.

This season, Holland’s best mark in the discus is 150-9, set at the Oregon Relays, held April 5 at Hayward Field in Eugene.

Holland competed in the discus in the dual meet at Wells. Three of his four attempts were scratches. His only attempt that counted was a throw of 133-10, which got him third place behind teammates Cameron Mirzakhalili and Greyson Murff. Holland’s final attempt looked, by far, to be his best throw of the competition, but the discus sailed out bounds, just to the right of the boundary.

“Today didn’t go too well in disc, but we’ll see how the season goes,” Holland said. “I was pretty consistent at the Oregon Relays. I had three throws above 140 and broke 150. My last one today went foul, but it was pretty good.”

As for the rest of the season, Holland has set the loftiest of goals for the 6A state meet.

“I want to go one-and-one, get both of them,” Holland said. “It’s just a matter of keeping up what I’ve been doing. I’ve been practicing really hard, making sure that I stay consistent with everything. I want to stay on the same track that I’m on now.”

Holland’s track accomplishments are just part of an impressive senior year he’s had at Lincoln. During the fall, he was a standout offensive lineman and defensive lineman for the Cardinals football team, earning first-team all-PIL honors and honorable mention all-state accolades on both sides of the ball in helping Lincoln go 4-2 in PIL play and 6-4 overall.

Lincoln senior Brady Holland has had a standout senior year for the Cardinals football team as well as the track and field squad. / Dan Brood

“It was a great experience,” Holland said of playing football at Lincoln. “We had a great group of kids. There was a lot of adversity. The first two years (because of the Lincoln High School rebuild), we had to come here (Wells High School) every single day and practice here, but everything was still great.”

While excelling at football and track and field in high school is one thing, Holland is hoping to do the same thing in college, as he signed to compete in both sports for Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Wash.

“I’m excited for next year — I’m going to Central Washington,” Holland said. “I love the campus. The coaches are awesome. It’s going to be a great place for me. Besides Air Force, it was the biggest offer I got to play football at a higher level.”

Holland said Central Washington is planning for him to play on the offensive line.

“Big, physical mover whose presence will bring explosiveness and power to the offensive line room. Brady has the ability to play multiple positions on the offensive line,” Central Washington offensive line coach Alex Kastens said of Holland on the Central Washington website.

“Oh yeah, I’m excited for it. It’s going to be great,” Holland said. “I’m just going to need to keep putting in the work. It’s not all going to come at once; I just need to stay consistent. This summer’s going to be really big.”

Lincoln senior Brady Holland is going to compete in football and track and field at Central Washington University. / Dan Brood

Football isn’t the only thing at college Holland is excited about. There’s also track — and even more.

“I had three major requirements for what I wanted to do — I wanted to play football, I wanted to do track, and I wanted to go to a place with a good pre-med program,” Holland said. “They have a really good clinical physiology program that I’m really interested in. I’m going to have my hands full.”

But, just like with track and field, Holland has a plan for how to handle that.

“I need to stay consistent with my work ethic and put everything I have into it,” he said. “It’s going to work out, and I’m really excited for it.”

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