A day before undergoing surgery to repair an injured knee for a second straight year, Logan Bell signed his National Letter of Intent to throw javelin at Missouri Southern State University.
"A lot of schools backed away and Missouri Southern was one of the schools that were like 'I think you can come back and still compete at a high level,'" the Poplar Bluff senior said. "I'm glad they took a chance on me."
Bell earned all-state honors in javelin twice, finishing second at state last year after months of rehab from surgery to repair the ACL in his right knee.
He injured his left knee in early October and again faces six months of rehab.
"My schedule to be back is May 10 and state is May 26, so not a lot of time to strengthen my muscles," Bell said. "It's kind of like get back and throw."
That's essentially what Bell did last season.
In his first meet at the end of March, Bell broke his own team record by nearly 8 feet. His best throw of 178-feet, 5-inches came at the Capital City Relays on April 14 and he won the conference and district titles in the event by wide margins.
At the state meet in May, Bell threw 176-2 and it took a state-meet record throw of 188-2 to beat him.
As a sophomore, Bell placed third at state with a throw of 167-feet, 8-inches.
Javelin was added as an exhibition event by MSHSAA two years ago and Bell only started throwing as a freshman.
"Since I've been around football since I was 6 years old it's been football, football, football, get a football scholarship," Bell said. "Since I've been throwing javelin, it's like well, javelin doesn't hit you and it doesn't fight back."
Bell said he chose Missouri Southern, an NCAA Division II school in Joplin, Missouri, for its education, location, facilities and coaching staff. Throws coach Brian Allen has had 10 national qualifiers and five All-Americans.
"Past two off-seasons I've not had off-seasons because of my knees and I've still gained 15 feet so once I have an off-season with a college coach who knows what I can do, just time will tell."
Bell, a Semoball Awards finalist for comeback athlete of the year, faces a tougher road back this time.
The injury to his left knee, suffered playing quarterback for the Mules football team in a game against Hillsboro, is the leg Bell plants before throwing.
"He may have to change a little bit," Mules coach Mark Barousse said. "Some of the throwers kind of roll over instead of sticking it so hard. Early in the process he may have to do that."
Barousse said Bell could likely just stand and throw to advance through to the state meet or at least shorten his run to the line.
"Javelin is more of a jumping event than it is a throwing event," Bell said. "You're running down the runway, then you're doing your crossover and doing your sideways (steps) almost and then you're throwing.
"It's speed. It's almost a finesse throw than a power throw."
Bell threw for 1,389 yards this fall at quarterback with 15 touchdown passes to two interceptions is seven-plus games as the Mules won the conference title and were unbeaten. He also ran for seven touchdowns and 226 yards.
Bell said he will study physical education, joining the family business. His father, Lance, is an assistant football and track coach at Poplar Bluff.
"I've been around sports all my life," Bell said. "I couldn't see myself not being around sports. It's kind of one of those things."