One can’t blame Adam Kuehl if his thoughts occasionally wander to the Olympic Games.

The University of Arizona sophomore, who was an All-American thrower at Monmouth Regional, got a taste of international competition at the Pan-American Junior Games in Bridgetown, Barbados (July 18-20), and it suited him just fine. Kuehl won the silver medal in the discus throw in his first-ever international competition.

"Being on the podium gave me an idea on what it would be like in the Olympics," said Kuehl. "It was great. It has given me so much inspiration for next year."

Kuehl was a freshman at the University of Arizona this year, but after a bout of mononucleosis, he was red-shirted for the season and did not compete with the team. Late in the season he did throw in Open competitions. He decided to enter the Junior Nationals at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., where much to his surprise, he captured the national championship with a throw of 190-10 and secured one of the two spots on the national team that would compete in the Pan-Am Games.

The experience of representing the United States was everything Kuehl thought it would be.

"It was awesome," he said. "I got to see all the people on the team that I had only read about. The team was like a big family. We all got along.

"I met people from other countries who came up to me and said they wanted to live in the USA," he added. "That gave me a lot of pride to be representing the USA. I was pretty psyched for the meet."

That pride carried over to the discus competition on July 20, where Kuehl’s 181-9 spin was second only to Brazil’s Gustavo Mendonca and his 192-9. Kuehl had the steadier marks throughout the competition, consistently reaching 180 feet. Mendonca unleashed his winning effort on his first throw of the competition.

With the Pan-American Games being the biggest meet of his career, Kuehl decided it was better to play it safe and went with a safety throw on his first effort to achieve a mark that would qualify him for the finals.

"I was throwing real well in practice, the discus was flying," he said. "I used a safety throw on my first throw where I slow down at the end. It threw my rhythm off.

"I learned that you can’t go into a defensive mode in meets like that," he added.

Kuehl’s silver medal contributed to Team USA dominance of the men’s and women’s track and field competition. The teams combined to win 48 medals, including 20 gold, 18 silver and 10 bronze.

All, however, didn’t go smoothly for Kuehl, who learned what it’s like to be competing in a foreign country. The US team stayed in a dormitory with no air conditioning, while outside the humidity was 80-90 percent. The sausages served at breakfast were called uncooked hot dogs by the athletes. Many throwers lost weight because they couldn’t maintain their large diets. Then there was the knock on the door the night before the discus competition.

"The throwing coach knocked on the door at 1:45 a.m. to tell me I wasn’t going to be throwing at 6:45 (p.m.), that the time was changed to noon," he said. "It was the night before the biggest meet of my life. I couldn’t sleep anyway so it didn’t really affect me.

"I made sure I ate a reasonable breakfast at 9:30 and took a taxi to the stadium around 10:30 to start warming up," he added.

He found the throwing circle, made of blacktop, to be far from friendly for throwers.

"There are things you can’t control," Kuehl said.

What he could control — the throwing — he did. Well enough to win a silver medal for himself and Team USA.

"I’m glad I got a medal, but I’m more happy that I got the experience," he said.

It’s an experience he can’t wait to put to use for the Wildcats this year.