TACOMA — Prairie senior Will Foster has been feeling far from his best physically since mid-April. He’s been battling back tightness and hasn’t been able to lift weights or practice throwing consistently.
In the 3A state championship meet at Mount Tahoma High School Thursday, it didn’t matter in the slightest.
Foster overcame his pain and delivered not only the best discus throw of his career but the best throw in 3A state meet history at 194 feet, 4 inches, topping the previous record of 193-8 set by Clarkston’s Gary Leffler in 1979.
The record-breaking throw clinched the state championship for Foster, who became the first Prairie Falcon thrower to win state titles in both discus and shot put since 2011 when Jon Lawson, Foster’s throwing coach, won both events in the same meet. Foster took home the shot put title last season.
“I’ve been thinking about this all year. This is what I wanted. I got second last year at state in the discus, and my ultimate goal was to win and do the double with shot put,” Foster said. “I wanted to be close to that 200 mark, but I broke the 3A state meet record, so I’m super happy.”
Foster was so dominant Thursday that any of his four throws that landed in fair territory would have been enough to win the state championship. His winning toss, however, was almost 15 feet better than the runner-up’s best attempt.
“I knew it was good the second I released it,” Foster said of his mammoth throw.
Since the Arcadia Invitational on April 12, when Foster began feeling back tightness, his numbers haven’t suffered at all. In fact, the state meet is the second time he has reset his PR in the event since then.
But it hasn’t come without frustration and physical limitations. Foster often had to stop during squats or hang snatches as his back pain would flare up, and he admitted that practices were deflating as he struggled to get over 180 feet. He believes a healthy back would have fueled him to a 200-foot throw.
“Throwing with a back like this, it hurts. In practice, when you’re not all amped up and have the adrenaline, it takes a toll,” he said. “Practices haven’t been the greatest, and that can be a huge letdown. I was thinking, ‘If I can PR and do this with a hurt back, what could I have done without it?’ It was super motivating to know that I can have massive throws with an injured back.”
Foster thanked Lawson for helping him etch his name in the Prairie record books next to his coach’s.
“I’ve always looked up to the guy. He’s been my guide throughout the whole thing. I wouldn’t be here without him,” Foster said. “He’s proud of me for breaking his records.”
In other area track success, Ridgefield’s Davis Sullivan clinched a fifth-place medal in the 1600-meter finals with a PR of 4:16.41, breaking his previous mark by four seconds. The senior is no stranger to the state stage with two previous trips, but Thursday was the first time he ran the 1600 meters at the highest level.
Entering the final quarter of the race, Sullivan found himself fighting just for a top-eight spot, but he pushed past several runners to wind up in fifth.
“My motto today was, ‘If they go, I go,’ and I actually stuck to that. There’s a lot of times where I have a motto and then get complacent and give up,” he said. “I was in a place around 600 left and I counted eight and I was nine. I had to do something about it. I just wanted to leave it all out on the track in my last mile and first mile here.”
Sullivan was joined in the 1600-meter finals by teammate Cooper Dollens, who finished 18th out of 19 runners in his first trip to state. Sullivan opted out of running in the 4x400 relay prelims in the evening as he prepares to run the 800 meters prelims Friday morning at 11:30 a.m. with the finals set for 10:50 a.m. Saturday. The Spudders 4x400 team of Kevin Diaz, Ean Hollis, Evan Hollis and Brandon Nguyen was unable to punch its ticket to the finals as it finished 13th in prelims.
Ridgefield junior McKenna Calkins will have a shot at a third straight medal in the 100-meter dash as she took sixth in the prelims, and Hockinson senior Zieynita Stidum was less than a tenth of a second away from joining her but took 14th instead.
Ridgefield senior Danica Allen, the school record holder in the 1600 meters and a two-time state medalist in the event, could not overcome a stumble on the first lap and crossed the finish line in 10th place at 5:15.52. Spudders sophomore Paige Hanes missed out on a medal in the javelin and finished 12th at 97-11.
Three area athletes competed in the triple jump and finished in the top 15 out of 18 jumpers. Hockinson’s Fatou Jatta took 12th, while Ridgefield’s Addyson Bowyer and Ella Bomar rounded out the top 15 at 14th and 15th, respectively. Bomar also came in 15th in the 100-meter hurdles prelims, and Woodland’s Mariah Stover took 17th.
Prairie freshman Yana Tkachenko finished 15th in her first long jump state competition, topping out at 16 feet, 4 inches.
Woodland senior Niel Valerio narrowly missed out on a high jump medal, with two misses at 5-6 serving as the backbreaker. He nailed his first jump at 6-0 before failing to clear 6-2 and advance to the finals. Valerio took a brief break in between jumps to compete in the prelims for the 110-meter hurdles but fell short of qualifying for the finals with a 13th-place time of 16.22 seconds. Ridgefield’s Brian McLemore III also came up short of a trip to the 110-meter hurdles finals in 14th.
Battle Ground sophomore Lord King Nana-Badu-Weah neared his PR in the 1600-meter finals but did not earn a medal as he finished 11th at 4:18.23.
Hockinson and Ridgefield’s girls 4x200 relay teams failed to qualify for the finals, and they, along with Woodland, could not send their girls 4x400 relay teams to the finals either.
