It was a trip that track and field stars Sam and Ryan Crouser will never forget.

For five days last August, the Crouser cousins trekked down the Columbia River in an 18-foot motorboat. They camped and fished, the latter activity having been a passion for both since they were toddlers.

And rather than chat about the incredible athletic accomplishments both had achieved earlier in the year, talk revolved mainly around all the bass, steelheads and sturgeons they were catching.

Photo by: Michael Schmitt Sam Crouser is the top-ranked boys' track recruit, according to ESPNU DyeStat. He holds the U.S. junior record in the javelin.

“It was the ultimate,” says Sam. “We were catching everything. It was really relaxing. I don’t think we talked about track on the trip.”

The trip was a chance for the precocious pair to recharge their batteries. And considering how much they’d already achieved in 2009, the Crousers had certainly earned the time off.

Sam is a senior at Gresham and is rated the nation’s No. 1 boys’ track and field athlete in the ESPNU DyeStat rankings.

The 6-foot-5, 220-pound Oregon recruit set the U.S. junior record in the javelin last year with his throw of 239 feet at the Portland Throws Festival.

Ryan, a 6-foot-7, 220-pound junior at Barlow, won gold in the shot put at last summer’s IAAF World Youth Championships in Italy with a meet-record throw of 70 feet, 9 inches.

He added a silver in the discus at the World Youth meet, and he also set the national sophomore-class record in the discus with a toss of 202-6 at June’s Mac Wilkins All-Comers Meet in Portland.

The duo’s success in throwing events is no coincidence. Sam’s father, Dean -- the throws coach at Gresham -- won two national titles in the discus and one in the shot put at the University of Oregon. Ryan’s father, Mitch -- the throws coach at Barlow -- starred in discus and shot at the University of Idaho and was fourth in discus at the 1984 U.S. Olympic Trials. Sam and Ryan’s uncle Brian captured a national title in the javelin at Oregon in 1982 and was a two-time Olympian. And their grandfather Larry was a standout javelin thrower in high school and in the Army.

“I’m kind of spoiled,” says Sam.

Despite that pedigree, the boys were always allowed to do their own thing growing up.

“I don’t think there’s really any pressure,” says Ryan. “Everyone in my family is really supportive.”

Once they showed they were serious about competing, Sam and Ryan began training with their fathers. Besides running, weight training and working on technique, the Crousers spend countless hours on plyometrics to strengthen their small muscle fibers in hopes of preventing muscle tears.

Photo by: Michael Schmitt Ryan Crouser became the first Oregon athlete to throw the discus over 200 feet.

Both Dean and Mitch suffered arm injuries during their careers, and they believe that if they’d known the proper way to stretch and train, those injuries could have been prevented.

“We don’t want to repeat the same mistakes,” says Mitch.

During the offseason, Sam trains roughly five days a week.

Ryan, also the starting center on the Barlow basketball team, trains sparingly during the winter but works out three to four days a week in the fall and six days a week in the spring. Basketball has helped Ryan immensely with his overall athleticism.

“Both Sam and Ryan have worked really hard and I don’t think you can teach that,” says Dean. “When they get to college, I think they’ll be a coach’s dream because they’ll do whatever you ask them.”

“Their work ethic is out of this world,” adds Barlow head coach David Kilian.

All that offseason work has paid off for the cousins.

After missing state as a freshman to nurse a sore shoulder, Sam returned as a sophomore to win the Class 6A state title in the javelin with a throw of 199-6. The next year, his mark of 231-1 at state shattered the meet record of 213-5.

Just a few weeks after state, he recorded his eye-popping distance of 239-0 at the Portland Throws event.

“I was just really ready for a big throw,” says Sam, who also captured a silver medal at last summer’s Pan Am Junior Championships in Trinidad & Tobago. “I felt I could have thrown it even farther than that.”

Long distances are nothing new to Ryan, who’s been dominating since he entered high school. He’s the two-time defending Class 6A state champion in both the shot put and discus, and his throw of 66-1.25 in shot put last year set a state meet record.

His throw at last year’s All-Comers meet not only set a national sophomore record but also broke the state record as he became the first Oregon prep discus thrower to surpass the 200-foot mark.

“I remember when I was little my dad said no one had ever thrown 200,” says Ryan. “I made it my goal to be the first.”

The Crousers often find themselves going head to head during the high school season. Their schools are part of the Mt. Hood Conference, and the two have competed against each other in javelin, shot put and discus at the conference championship and state meet. As expected, Sam has won the battle in javelin, while Ryan has prevailed in shot put and discus.

But the competition hasn’t stopped them from rooting each other on. At last year’s state meet, it was Ryan who got the crowd going for Sam before his record throw in the javelin.

“That really pumped me up,” says Sam.

This year, they’ll be cheering for each other as they aim for even loftier marks.

Sam is going for 269 feet in the javelin, which would dwarf both his own national junior record and the national high school record of 241-11 set by Finnish exchange student Tommi Viskari in 1988.

Meanwhile, Ryan is shooting for the national junior-class record of 222-1 in the discus.

Accomplishing those goals would certainly call for another celebratory trip down the Columbia.