The high school track and field season hit full stride Saturday as the Tiger Invitational was held at Battle Ground High School.
It was the perfect early season meet for athletes to make a name for themselves in Clark County and across the state.
Take one athlete in the boys javelin, for instance.
Shawn, no wait a minute, Sean … uh, last name started with a K … Kall, no, Keller. Yeah, that’s it. Sean Keller … of Heritage.
Anyway this Sean Keller kid, who is actually a golfer in the fall, keeps in shape during the spring by throwing the javelin. And on Saturday, he had a pretty good day.
OK, I’m going to stop there. If there is anyone who still thinks I don’t know who Sean Keller is, please turn to the funny pages. They are located on Page D4 today.
Now, back to Keller. He opened his 2012 prep season with a throw of 230 feet, 7 inches.
Somewhere in eastern Washington, Connell’s Matt Hadley woke up Saturday morning feeling pretty good about holding the state’s best mark in the javelin at 195-2.
Now, he has the second-best mark.
Saturday’s throw by Keller is the second-best of his prep career, just behind his career best of 232-1. Keller won Saturday’s meet by more than 60 feet.
To put it another way, if Heritage’s second-best javelin thrower on Saturday took his best throw, walked out to where the javelin landed, picked it up and threw it again, the javelin would still fall short of Keller’s best mark.
That’s no knock on Heritage’s No. 2 javelin thrower — he finished in the middle of the pack on Saturday. It just shows how good Keller is.
Heritage track and field coach Russ Weaver said Keller is aiming at the national javelin record of 255-4. Well, Keller is off to a pretty good start — for a golfer.
But Keller wasn’t the only Clark County athlete putting up some high-ranking marks in the state on Saturday, according to athletic.net. Here are some others of note:
• Union’s Angelique Williams ranks No. 1 in the girls javelin (131-11).
• Prairie’s Johna McEllrath is No. 3 in the girls discus (130-8).
• Skyview’s Jameson Shirley is No. 3 in the boys pole vault at 14-6.
• Skyview’s Madison Lanford is No. 2 in the girls 300 hurdles (46.34).
• Camas’ Alexa Efraimson is No. 3 in the girls 800 (2:17.60).
• Union’s Kaitlyn McKinney is No. 2 in the girls 400 (59.09).
Tim Martinez is the assistant sports editor/prep coordinator for The Columbian. He can be reached at 360-735-4538 or email tim.martinez@columbian.com
