TACOMA — The bigger the stage, and the stiffer the competition, Trey Knight shines brightest.
The Ridgefield High junior has competed — and won — in track and field on a national level for his age group, and on a state level now four times.
Friday, he added a fourth Class 2A title to his resume repeating as the boys discus champion.
Like he did Thursday repeating as the shot put champion, Knight’s best discus throw came on the final attempt Friday. But it wasn’t just any throw. His mark of 187 feet, 6 inches bested the previous state-meet throw 180-3 set by Sehome’s Ryan MacDonald in 2010. Columbia River’s Isaac Bibb-O’Neill placed fifth with a career-best throw of 162-2 Friday.
“I was trying to (break the record) all day,” said Knight, who turned 17 Friday, “just some stuff wasn’t clicking. But that last throw, it felt nice. And it went far.”
Knight hasn’t lost a state competition in the shot put or discus since freshman year at the state meet. Next month, he heads to Cuba for an international track and field meet, followed by the New Balance Outdoor Nationals in North Carolina.
But the past two days of titles goes well beyond the results, Knight said. What makes this state meet special repeating as a state champion is sharing it with teammates and coaches, especially those making their first state appearance.
“It’s nice to have your friends here,” Knight said. “I really like this group of people and it makes it special.”
Williams vaults to top
Rock climbing is Levi Williams’ top sport, but track and field isn’t far behind.
In his second year pole vaulting, the Columbia River sophomore is a state champion. He cleared 13 feet, 6 inches in one of the first completed state competitions Friday.
The pole vault didn’t come without a few challenges, though. New this year to the state meet was two pits and runways stationed at midfield. The runways were elevated 18 inches off the infield turf.
Much like other vaulters Friday, Williams’ only previous experience on elevated runways came with Thursday’s pre-meet practice session for all state competitors. He noticed the difference immediately.
“It’s hard,” Williams said, “because you’re already in an event that requires so much technique to be spot on, and to add little changes made it a lot harder.”
Williams adapted, though, to become River’s first boys vault champion since Todd Freitag won back-to-back titles in 1983 and ’84. Williams cleared a personal-best 14-6 at last week’s district meet, and was the only vaulter to make 13-6. Woodland’s Judeah Sanders finished second (13-0).
“Once I started warming up,” he said, “it turned into confidence. I felt like I was vaulting well.”
Other performance
• Woodland high jumper Alex Bishop placed second in 2A, clearing 6-feet-6. It’s the third top-3 state finish for Bishop, also Woodland’s school record holder. Teammate Tyler Flanagan was fourth in the 110 hurdles (15.29).
• Camas’ Mason Gross has the second-fastest 4A 400-meter preliminary time (49.68 seconds) entering Saturday’s final. Teammate Daniel Maton, who won his third 1,600 state race Thursday, ran a 1:55.94 in Friday’s prelims to advance to Saturday’s final.
• Six 400 relay teams (Prairie, Hockinson, Washougal, Skyview, Camas and Union boys), qualified for Saturday’s finals in their classifications.
• Prairie’s Nolan Mickenham (3A 100) and Washougal’s Ryan Davy (2A 100) ran the third-fastest 100 preliminary times to qualify for the finals. … The 2A GSHL got top-5 finishes in the boys 800 from Washougal’s Koy Chaston (third) and August Albers of Ridgefield (fifth).
• Fort Vancouver’s Lincoln Glick placed fifth in the 100 ambulatory.
