When Veronica Jatsek looks back on her time at Ohio State, she does not just see the Big Ten championships she has won or the multiple All-American honors she has earned in track and field.
The senior also had her brother Lenny by her side through it all.
"Being an All-American and going to the Big Tens with my brother," she said. "And going the places we go, meeting the people we've gotten to meet and making the friendships we've gotten to make with people on the team … I'll never be able to put into words what that's like."
The construction systems management major has been an All-American three times and recently won the Big Ten championship in the hammer throw, beating the rest of the competition by 20 feet with her throw of 203 feet, 6 inches.
When she competes, she said she hears Lenny's voice.
"I know he wants it for me so bad and that makes me want it even more," she said.
Her and her brother have been competing together since high school, when Lenny urged her to get involved with the track team.
"I played volleyball in high school and just wanted to play in college," Jatsek said. "He told me the team needed girls to throw and that I needed to. He basically forced me to do it."
Jatsek began throwing shot put her sophomore year at Trinity in Walton Hills, outside of Cleveland and was met with success. She was a state champion and broke the school record, the same day her brother did.
"It was always Lenny and Veronica," Jatsek said.
Jatsek started college and joined the track team at Ashland University, where she became a Division II All-American.
"It was hard for me not to train with him and throw with him," she said. "Because that's all I knew."
After encouragement and help from her brother, Jatsek transferred to OSU her sophomore year.
"It was how we were in high school and we had success together there," Lenny Jatsek said. "And we've been able to accomplish a lot of great things together here."
The two are both Big Ten champions in the weight throw.
"It's something that my brother and I share," Veronica Jatsek said. "I think of it as our thing. It's our event."
Both the Jatseks will be competing this weekend at the NCAA regional meet, where it will be decided if they advance to the NCAA national meet.
"I have to finish in the top five to move on to nationals," Jatsek said. "And I want to walk away as a four time All-American and then focus on the Olympic trials."
The women's team will be losing an integral member with Jatsek's departure.
"She has given this program all of her dedication, hard work and commitment," said coach Karen Dennis. "I'd like to see her on the podium at nationals."
Jatsek has accepted a job with Project and Construction Services (PCS) in downtown Cleveland. She is really excited about moving home and being with her friends and family again, she said.
And her brother Lenny will not be far.
"Lenny just took a job downtown too," she said. "We're starting a new phase together."
Megan Savage can be reached at savage.119@osu.edu.
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