Whether it’s a football or a javelin, Mountainside junior Cade Mitchell can throw with the best of them

After quarterbacking the Mavericks to the 6A Open quarterfinals, Mitchell is putting up impressive marks for the Mountainside track and field program

Mountainside junior Cade Mitchell has high hopes in the javelin this season. / Dan Brood

All Cade Mitchell needs is something to throw.

He can throw it with accuracy. He can throw it with precision. And he can throw it far — wow, can he throw it far.

Mitchell, a Mountainside junior, showed his skills throwing the football in the fall, as he helped lead the Mavericks to their first outright Metro League championship.

Now, as part of the Mountainside track and field team, Mitchell is throwing again. This time, it’s the javelin he’s sending into flight, and he’s throwing it farther than he ever had before.

“This is my second year (throwing the javelin). I started last year,” Mitchell said Wednesday as he took cover from a driving rainstorm at Jesuit High School, where the Mavericks were facing the Crusaders in a Metro League track and field dual meet.

“I kind of picked it up because I’m a quarterback, so that made throwing it kind of super easy, and I was good at it. I was like, ‘I throw it better than I run it.’”

Mountainside junior Cade Mitchell is about to let the javelin soar during the Mavericks’ Metro League track and field dual meet at Jesuit. / Dan Brood

He showed right away, even as a beginner last year, just how good he is at throwing the javelin.

In his first year competing in the event, Mitchell won the Metro League district championship with a throw of 162 feet, 10 inches. He took fifth place at the 6A track and field state meet with a then-personal-best toss of 177-2.

As good as his initial javelin season was, Mitchell wasted no time in showing his junior campaign could be much better.

In the Mavericks’ first competition of the 2025 season, a Metro League dual meet at home against Westview, Mitchell triumphed in the javelin with a new personal-best throw of 179-1.

“This year, I’m building off the technique I had last year,” Mitchell said. “I think I finished state with a really good end mark. So, coming into this year, I’ve got better technique already.”

It also doesn’t hurt to be a year older and a year stronger — as well as being a competitor.

“I’ve just been in the weight room,” the 6-foot-3, 210-pound Mitchell said. “I also came in with a different approach than last year. I’m more experienced. My coach wasn’t there for that first meet, so that gave me some extra motivation to go out and prove something.”

That coach who missed the opening meet, Mountainside javelin coach Alex Wolff, sees big things ahead for Mitchell.

“His potential is high. The best is yet to come for Cade,” Wolff said. “He’s an amazing athlete. He’s the most athletic kid I’ve ever coached. And he’s a good kid.”

Mountainside’s Cade Mitchell starts his approach in the javelin during the Mavericks’ meet at Jesuit. / Dan Brood

Mitchell has some lofty aspirations for this track and field season.

“I’m going for it all this year. Winning it — that’s the goal. I just need to keep doing the same routine, keep doing the same pattern, stay confident the whole way. I got a long season left,” Mitchell said. “I want to get around that 190 to 200 mark, kind of get to that next level. That’s the big goal — get to that next level.”

As of Friday morning, Mitchell’s season-opening mark of 179-1 ranked fifth in the state this season. At Jesuit, where the javelin event was contested in rainy, windy, chilly conditions, Mitchell triumphed with a mark of 169-10, which he got in his final attempt.

“It was good today,” Mitchell said. “It’s not the best conditions, but I’m out here trying to compete. I’ve got the Oregon Relays coming up, so I’m trying to get some warm-up for that. That’s when I want to make the big throws.”

Mountainside junior Cade Mitchell finished fifth in the javelin at last year’s 6A track and field state championships. / Dan Brood

One thing that could help Mitchell make the big throws is that he is a standout quarterback.

“I think it helps,” Wolff said. “There’s been some good quarterbacks in the past who have also been good javelin throwers.”

Probably the most famous of those is Pittsburgh Steelers four-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback Terry Bradshaw, who set a national javelin record when he was a senior at Woodlawn (La.) High School.

Mitchell says he sees the benefit of throwing the football and throwing the javelin — for both sports.

“You’ve got to use different little techniques for each sport, but I think they help each other, for sure,” he said. “It’s kind of that follow-through technique. Just the arm strength and keeping your legs low and just being explosive. That kind of helps translate from one sport to the other.”

Speaking of one sport to the other, while Mitchell is focused on throwing the javelin right now, football is also on his mind. Not only is he working on his quarterback skills, but he’s also doing plenty of traveling, with his possible football future in mind.

Cade Mitchell passed for 2,052 yards and 23 touchdowns as Mountainside’s starting quarterback last season. / Dan Brood

“I’ve been going on a bunch of (college) visits, Mitchell said. “I’ve been on four now. I’ve been to Washington State, I’ve been to Portland State, I went to Washington, I went to Eastern Washington. I’ve been talking to New Mexico about going down there.”

All of this doesn’t leave Mitchell with much free time these days.

“I’m super busy right now,” he said. “I’m just looking for the school that has the best interest in me. I’m not really worried about the whole offer process and all that. I’m just trying to keep being me and keep playing ball.”

Mitchell will stay busy during the summer as well — with the focus being on football.

“I’m going to a bunch of camps coming up in June. I’m going on some more visits in July,” he said. “And I’m getting ready for my senior year. I want to go out with a bang. I think we can really go on a run this year.”

As a junior, Mitchell helped Mountainside win the Metro League title at 5-0, finish 8-3 overall and reach the quarterfinal round of the 6A Open playoffs. He completed 134 of 197 pass attempts for 2,052 yards and 23 touchdowns (four interceptions). He earned second-team all-Metro League honors at quarterback.

Mitchell helped the Mavericks get a wild 44-39 win over Tualatin in a 6A state playoffs first-round game, going 15 of 21 for 282 yards and two touchdowns.

Next season, the sky might be the limit for Mountainside, as the Mavericks could have a big group of key returning players, including Mitchell, highly recruited tight end/linebacker Sam Vyhlidal, running backs Jordan Hicks and Reece Ballew, linemen Aiden Jakubauskas, Reed Hicks and Isaiah Ormond, receiver Sean Gerigk, linebackers Liam Ange and Jayden Meshkov, defensive backs Sean Bour-Nelson and Kai Franco and kicker Max Ryusaki.

“We’re trying to build on what we did last year and go farther,” Mitchell said. “We think we can go all the way. That’s our goal.”

Mountainside junior Cade Mitchell (15) takes the field with the Mavericks for last year's state playoff game against Tualatin. / Dan Brood

According to Wolff, Mitchell has attributes that can help him achieve his lofty goals, both with the javelin and on the gridiron.

“He’s athletic and explosive, and he has a great attitude,” Wolff said. “He’s very coachable. He listens well, and he always puts himself out there to do the right thing.”

Oh yeah, there’s one more attribute.

“I like to be a winner,” Mitchell said with a smile.

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