Neosho track and field coach Harry Lineberry has witnessed some of the best athletes to pass through town compete in the sport he has coached for more than 30 years.

Along that time he has seen nearly every track record at Neosho High School broken, with the exception of two:

 The boys’ 1,600-meter relay team’s record time of 3:23.4 set in 1967; and in 2005, the team that advanced to state ran a 3:24 and placed seventh.

The other record he has yet to be seen broken was set in 1976 when Rusty Woodall had a throw of 168 feet, 6 inches in the discus — the 59th best throw in the Missouri State High School Activities Association record book.

Thirty-two years later, Woodall still has his record.

How much longer he will have it is unknown at the moment, but if Cody Holland has his way it will be only for a few more days.

The junior has been creeping ever so closely to the record over recent weeks. At the Republic Invitational, he came 4 ½ feet from the record.

At the conference meet last week in Webb City, he had a toss of 167-2, a mere 1 feet, 4 inches from the record.

“That is one of the oldest records left to be broken,” said Holland, who is also a standout football player for Neosho. “It was set in ’76 — that was over 30 years ago. I want to be the one that will break it and put it out so that it wouldn’t be broken for another 30 or 40 years.”

In practice this week, Holland was throwing the discus with all his might, in hopes of breaking the record. So, here is your warning for cars driving by the high school anytime after 3:30 p.m., if you see a shiny flying object, it’s not a UFO, it’s a discus coming from Holland’s right arm.

Ironically, Holland noted he has always thought of himself better at throwing the shot put then the discus.

He began throwing in both events when he went out for track as an eighth-grader. He has grown, both height-wise and strength-wise, in a mere three and half years to put himself in a position to get his name in the record books.

As a sophomore he went to state in the shot put, while not even making the finals of districts in the discus event.

Last year he had a throw of 148 feet at McDonald County in the discus and improved on it slightly.

“I wasn’t really focused and I had a bad day at districts,” he admitted.

It wasn’t until the Pittsburg State Relays this spring, where he had a throw of 154 feet, that he realized he wasn’t too shabby in the discus event. He has improved on that mark throughout the season.

However, as good as he is in track and field, Holland believes his future lies on the gridiron. He isn’t the first football star to standout in the throwing events. Current Oakland Raider Adam Spieker was a standout in the discus for Webb City. Missouri thrower Tyler Dailey was all-state in football and track at Joplin. More recently, Carthage’s Stephen Cummins was a standout in football, now at Pittsburg State, but was a state medalist in the throwing events.

The 6 foot, 5 inches Holland is a standout offensive lineman and has already drawn interest from Kansas, Missouri and most recently, Vanderbilt. Missouri State and Southern Illinois have visited school recently to talk with Holland.

“I’m set on playing college football if I get a chance and if I do, I will probably take it,” said Holland. “It is a possibility that I’d throw in college, it would just come down to if I wanted to put the time and effort into two sports.”

While football may be his future, he will turn his focus to the present this weekend.

At 1 p.m. Saturday at John F. Kennedy Stadium in Springfield, Holland will go for his first district championship, as well as the school record.

“I’ve been throwing real good this year and I’m looking forward to going to districts to break the school record,” he said.