Priorities change with age, experience and knowledge.

Wes Banks, a senior at Hempfield Area High School, knows that as well as anyone.

When he was younger, he dreamed of playing football at a Division I college. He will still wind up at a Division I school, probably with a full scholarship, but for track and field, not football.

A 6-foot-3, 265-pounder, Banks has been a solid player on the offensive and defensive lines for the Spartans' football squad, earning all-conference honors. He even made a recruiting visit to Maine.

But in the shot put and the discus, Banks has developed into a superstar. He has made recruiting visits to Louisville and Kent State and those two, along with Michigan State, are on the short list of colleges he is considering.

"It's going to be a tough decision," he said.

What has college track coaches excited is Banks' ability to throw heavy objects farther than most individuals his age.

He won WPIAL Class AAA titles in the shot put (56 feet,  1/2 inch) and discus (164-4) last year and was third in the shot and fifth in the discus at the PIAA championships in Shippensburg.

That was just the appetizer. Banks won the shot put at the Pennsylvania Track and Field Coaches Association Indoor Championships last month at Penn State with a toss of 62-2 3/4. That mark is the 13th best in the country, according to track Web site dyestat.com, during the high school indoor season and Banks is the fifth ranked individual.

Jimmie Pacifico from Dayton, Ohio, is No. 1 with a toss of 65-5 1/2 and had seven of the top 13 marks indoors this year.

Banks and Pacifico went head-to-head a couple weeks ago at the Nike Indoor Championships at the Prince George's Sportsplex in Landover, Md. Pacifico placed first with a toss of 65 feet, Banks was second at 61-1 1/4.

"The main thing with Wes is that he works like a dog to get better," said Dave Murray, Hempfield's throwing coach and a former Division III track All-American at Allegheny College. "He's strong. He can power clean 335 [pounds] three times, which is remarkable.

"We'll go throw for an hour and a half and then lift for an hour and a half and he'll work hard the whole time. He just has a great attitude and tremendous work ethic."

Banks started throwing the shot and discus in seventh grade, but it wasn't until his freshman year at Hempfield that it started to kick in that he had a gift.

"I threw [the shot] 43 feet as a freshman. My older brother [Tony] had thrown 35 when he was a freshman and ended up going 51 feet when he was a senior. So, we started thinking maybe I could go 56 feet, which is pretty good, by the time I was a senior," Banks said.

"I lifted weights before and all during my sophomore year [of track] and put on about 35 pounds. My first meet as a sophomore I threw 46 feet, then 50 the second meet. Then at the Latrobe Invitational, I went 54 feet. Now I'm thinking, 'How is this happening?' At the [Westmoreland] county meet I went 55-10  1/2. That's when I started thinking maybe I could throw 65 feet in high school."

The 65-foot line is still the goal and Banks is closing in quickly. His best throw in the discus has been 180 feet, which he did last year before tweaking his shoulder.

Another thing Murray likes about Banks is his competitive attitude. Banks lives for the big meets and looks for the best competition.

"Anybody can throw well in a dual meet and I don't mean that as a slight against anyone," Banks said. "It's just tougher to do it at like the [PIAA] meet when the bleachers are filled and there are people everywhere. That's when you have to come through, when there's a lot of pressure. I like it when there are a lot of people watching."

Banks realizes a lot of people question giving up football to concentrate on track.

"I just don't feel in my heart that playing football is the thing for me," he said. "I just have a burning desire to excel as a thrower. Track is going to get me a scholarship to a great school and then we'll see what happens from there."

A goal-oriented individual, Banks is after 65 feet in the shot and 190 in the discus this season. He also wants to repeat as WPIAL champion in both events and earn a gold medal or maybe two at the PIAA meet.

"Above everything else, Wes is just a great kid," Murray said. "He's a team guy. He works hard. He doesn't eat anything bad. He's just an outstanding individual."

And he's not the only good thrower Hempfield has. There is also junior C.J. Klegg, who placed 13th in the shot at the Indoor Nationals, and juniors Kimberly Kanala and Lisa Dupilka, who were 10th and 20th, at the state indoor championships. Last year, Hempfield had Samantha Fetter, who won the girls' shot and discus titles at the WPIAL championships.

"I owe a lot of my success to coach Murray," Banks said. "Look at the throwers we have and we had Sam last year. We help each other out and have a pretty good thing going."Hempfield senior Wes Banks could contend for WPIAL and PIAA titles in both the discus and shot put. His shot put throw at the state indoor championships was among the best in the country this season.