“I just had to recharge my battery a little bit,” he said. “I sped up and threw harder.”

Glover put such effort into his winning throw he fell near the scratch line, avoiding it by mere inches.

“After I looked up, I saw the bottom of it and it just kept carrying,” he said. “All day they’d been dying. That one, I knew it was a good one.”

Glover, who had two scholarship offers coming out of high school including one from Southern Illinois Edwardsville, concluded with respectable marks of 250-5 and 245-2.

“I like to say my arm gets better as I go on,” he said. “I grew up throwing every day as hard as I could.”

The 5-foot-10, 217-pound Glover was the smallest finalist.

“It’s kind of cool being the smallest kid out there,” he said. “You want to prove yourself and throw the farthest. Some people call me the smallest man with the biggest arm.”

Several hundred fans near the runway clapped in rhythm to inspire him.

“I really appreciate everybody coming out and supporting me,” he said. “It’s big for all athletes, javelin throwers especially.”